Primary Market Bulletin No. 45 published

The FCA has published Primary Market Bulletin 45, which contains guidance for issuers on a number of topics, including:

• Sustainability reporting – The FCA says that it intends to consult on disclosure rules referencing the UK-endorsed Sustainability Disclosure Standards published by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) in the first half of 2024, with a view to bringing new requirements into force for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025 (assuming that the endorsement of the standards is completed by the UK government by summer 2024). In the meantime, it encourages companies to continue to improve their reporting in line with existing climate-related disclosure rules and engage early with the new sustainability disclosure framework. For more information on recent developments in relation to sustainability reporting in the UK, see our blog post here.
• Electronic Submission System (ESS) – The FCA has introduced multi factor authentication (MFA) for people logging into the ESS and the option to skip MFA registration will end soon.
• Third country audit firms – Under DTR 4.1.7R(4), any non-UK (referred to as 'third country') issuer with shares admitted to trading in the UK must ensure that its auditor is an FRC-registered third country auditor. Financial statements that do not include an audit report provided by an FRC-registered third country auditor will not be audited for the purposes of compliance with DTR 4.1.7R and the FCA says it will temporarily suspend any such issuer's listing.