FCA Mandates New Inside Information Declaration Form for All ESS Equity Submissions from 21 September 2026
From 21 September 2026, all new equity cases submitted through the FCA's Electronic Submission System (ESS) portal, including guidance requests, must include a new inside information declaration form with the first submission of documents. Submitters are required to state whether the submission contains inside information and, if so, provide supporting details. The FCA has confirmed that cases will not be allocated for review without this declaration. The FCA also reminds issuers that UK MAR remains the operative regime: UK issuers must continue to comply with related technical standards and applicable guidance, and ESMA guidelines and recommendations that predated the Brexit transition period's end should continue to be applied, interpreted in the UK withdrawal context. Separately, the FCA reiterates that issuers must not combine the release of inside information under UK MAR with marketing material, and that any marketing content should be distributed through non-regulatory newswire services or other appropriate channels such as company websites and social media.
Why this matters
The declaration requirement takes effect immediately, making it a hard procedural gate, submissions lacking the form will simply not progress. For listed issuers and their advisers, this changes the first-submission checklist overnight. The FCA's simultaneous reminder on marketing separation signals heightened scrutiny of how inside information is packaged and released, raising the compliance bar for investor relations teams. Coming after the Brexit transition, the FCA's explicit instruction to interpret retained ESMA guidance in the UK withdrawal context is a practical signal that regulatory divergence from EU MAR is managed, not assumed away.
On the Ground
Capital markets and regulatory counsel will need to update transaction and disclosure checklists immediately to incorporate the new ESS declaration step. Equity capital markets teams and in-house legal at listed companies face the most direct impact, particularly on time-sensitive IPO and secondary offering submissions. Trainees should review the FCA ESS portal requirements, cross-reference the inside information declaration form template, and flag the marketing-separation reminder to ECM and IR teams. Compliance audits of standard disclosure workflows are likely to follow.
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