• LSEG article on Navigating shareholding disclosure: Your guide to regulatory reporting.

Article Highlights

• Substantial Shareholding disclosure rules are fundamental for market transparency and enforced across all global jurisdictions and regulators require investors to report to their relevant regulators whenever their holdings in an issuer reach or exceed specific thresholds.
• These thresholds may be based on total voting rights, share capital, and/or the total number of shares outstanding in a particular share class, and can all change rapidly.
• Keeping up with the impact of regulatory change on shareholder disclosure data and processes is becoming more challenging for investors, especially across markets.
• Regulatory change is accelerating, with shorter time frames for reporting as well as the introduction of equity derivatives requirements, which add another dimension to mix.
• More countries are expected to implement reporting of equity derivatives positions over the next few years to meet the global money laundering prevention standards.
• Rules vary by jurisdiction, while the key principles remain the same there’s significant inconsistencies in the way rules are interpreted and implement across jurisdictions.
• Working with data and technology solutions that deliver the agility financial firms need to meet all requirements in compressed timescales is essential for compliance success.
• Regulatory change is new normal for shareholding disclosure compliance, so financial services firms must adapt, and use of data and technology to automate shareholding disclosure can help many firms to ensure that they meet increasingly tight deadlines.
• These new shareholding disclosure demands require high quality data that performs robustly from day one, and any omissions or errors can result in compliance failures.
• As well, technology needs to be able to adapt quickly, so reporting processes must adopt an increased level of automation and flexibility and they need to be reviewed regularly to ensure the fulfill the compliance requirements across relevant jurisdiction.