Press releases 2001

31 July 2001

EXCHANGE REAFFIRMS PLANS TO COMMERCIALISE RNS

London Stock Exchange plc today reaffirmed its intention to provide its Regulatory News Service (RNS) on a commercial basis following the completion of the FSA's review into regulatory news dissemination, expected around the end of this year.

Confirmation of the Exchange's commitment came in its response today to the FSA's Consultation Paper (CP92) on proposed changes to the current UK news dissemination arrangements.

In its response the Exchange sets out that "the FSA's proposed approach is a positive step forward which will build on the traditional strengths of RNS, while introducing greater choice for listed companies at a time when the pressures on companies for market disclosure are greater than ever."

RNS releases around 170,000 announcements each year, which are distributed to over 250,000 professional terminals worldwide. In the past year, the Exchange has invested heavily in developing RNS, including the launch of new internet services last autumn.

RNS is highly valued by its customers for its levels of security and efficiency and its role in ensuring that high standards of market integrity are achieved. The introduction of competition will underline this value, allowing the Exchange to further commercialise the service and to implement a continuous improvement programme to meet customer requirements.

The Exchange will continue to work with the FSA in its review to ensure that changes to the arrangements for regulatory news dissemination support continuous trading on UK markets and safeguard the high standards of information disclosure and availability that currently exist.

Details of pricing and further enhancements to RNS will be announced after the FSA has concluded its review.

To view the Exchange's response to the FSA consultation paper (CP92), click here.

To visit the RNS homepage click here.