The IFRS Foundation’s International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) says it will pay ‘special attention’ to small and mid-cap companies when developing its global baseline of standards for sustainability disclosures.
The ISSB says it recognizes the ‘additional challenges’ faced by such companies and others in global supply chains in applying sustainability disclosure requirements. Its working group is about to begin consultations with jurisdictions o...
Regulation Archive
The SEC last month proposed rule changes that would require companies to include in certain regulatory filings quantitative and qualitative information about climate change. The proposals are wide ranging and, if they’re adopted, companies would be required t...
Better information leads to better decisions – this is the idea behind a regulatory device known as ‘mandated disclosure’. Mandated disclosures are all around you, from calorie counts on fast food restaurant menus to conversations with doctors around informed consent.
But the biggest experiment yet in mandated disclosure may be an expected SEC proposal to exten...
On December 15, 2021 the SEC proposed extensive amendments to Rule 10b5-1 that would, among other things, impose a cooling-off period for directors and officers buying and selling shares and require personal certification when they do so.
Officers and directors of public companies – that is, insiders – frequently use Rule 10b5-1 trading plans to buy or sell a predetermined numbe...
The UK’s International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) is calling for the ESG ratings industry to be regulated, citing concerns around transparency, a lack of consistency in the data and lack of clarity for investors.
‘ESG and sustainability are becoming increasingly central to investment decisions around the world,’ says Kay Swinburne, IRSG council chair, in the new report titled: ...
Mifid II will have some of its ‘rough edges smoothed off’ in post-Brexit Britain, but there is no appetite to completely tear up the EU’s protection for investors in UK law, according to regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
At an IR Society webinar last week on how Mifid II might be overhauled post-Brexit, as part of the government’s efforts to maintain London’s competitiveness as a financial center, Stephen Hanks, a manager at the FCA, said th...
What happens when a company’s case goes to the Supreme Court? How does it influence stock and options prices? And do investors price their anticipation of the outcome into these markets?
While cases surrounding public companies often do not make it to the Supreme Court, it is well understood that those that do must be important, such as Apple’s antitrust case (Apple vs Pepper), eBay vs MercExchange, Mobil Oil vs Federal Power Commission, Walmart vs Dukes and Mic...
– Reddit, the social media platform that found itself at the center of meme-stock mania earlier this year, filed to go public, reported the BBC. In the filing, Reddit did not specify the number of shares it ...
The UK’s Wholesale Market Review and the EU’s consultation on Mifid II’s Regulatory Technical Standards are both under way following Brexit. What do IROs need to know about the upcoming changes?
Generally, market liquidity has declined over the last 10 years, and there is a danger that the demerger of the UK/EU liquidity pool will make things worse, in a kind of Balkanization process. Generally, we anticipate that IR staff will start to repor...
The European Commission’s (EC) requirements for sustainability reporting already affect a significant portion of investments made by companies. Certain areas, however – such as strategic liquidity management, cover-funds from direct employer pension commitments and lump-sum support funds for corporate pension plans – have been omitted from regulation so far. This could change if the legislator wants to achieve transparency without contradiction and ambiguity.
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