Måns Flodberg, founder and deputy CEO at Modular Finance, explains the value of being a Primary Information Provider and why choosing the right one for your company matters.

Modular Finance was recently approved by the FCA as a Primary Information Provider (PIP). To become a PIP was a rigorous and demanding process. During this time, we have come to learn more about the UK market’s premises, as well as some common misconceptions. As the landscape of Primary Information Providers evolves, it is crucial for companies to understand what PIPs deliver, and why their choice of PIP matters.

What is a Primary Information Provider?

A PIP is a firm that is approved by the FCA to be used by the issuers whenever they need to disclose regulated information, such as annual and half-yearly financial reports, inside information, major shareholding notifications, voting rights, transaction in own shares, etc. There are currently six PIPs active in the UK and they are all listed on FCA's website.

You must apply to the FCA to become a PIP. The application, among other details, includes a report where an auditor confirms that the one applying will be capable of satisfying the continuing obligations set out in DTR 8.4. All approved PIPs must also conduct an annual audit to demonstrate that they continue to comply with the regulations.

What all Primary Information Providers deliver:

• Dissemination: regulated information must be disseminated quickly and fairly to a broad audience, including media outlets, trading platforms, the company’s website and the National Storage Mechanism (NSM). PIPs are required to distribute at least 95% of this information within five minutes of receipt.
• Format: press releases must clearly identify the issuer, label the information as regulated, categorise the content appropriately and include the dissemination time and date, among other requirements.
• Business continuity: PIPs must be available to distribute information and provide support from 7:00am to 6:30pm on business days. They are required to have robust procedures for outages, ensuring timely communication with all affected parties, including the FCA and measures to prevent misuse of information by staff.

What sets PIPs apart, and why it matters

RNS is the market leader among PIPs. There is a big misconception among listed companies that they must choose RNS, when they are in fact free to choose any of the FCA-approved primary information providers to use as their single source for distributing regulatory news.

This choice is - and should be - important to any company. Anyone that has ever managed regulated information knows that the user experience, features in the platform and customer support can either reduce, or spark more, stress to an already stressful situation. And of course, each platform for regulatory news also differs in databases for reach, analytics tools and pricing.

Our platform for regulatory information distribution, MFN, has a proven track record in the Nordic market, being used by more than 500 listed companies. We are eager to prove ourselves in the UK market and are confident that if listed companies understand their available choices of primary information providers, MFN will become a trusted and well-regarded choice for regulatory information in the UK as well.