The FSA decision comes just days after the Exchange successfully introduced a range of important new enhancements that will benefit users of RNS.
Andrew McStravick, the Exchange's Director of Operations, welcomed today's approval, subject to final consultation, of RNS as a Primary Information Provider. He said commercialisation and competition represented an exciting business opportunity for the Exchange.
"We have been looking forward to the commercialisation of RNS for some time and have successfully introduced a range of new services to better cater for the needs of our many customers," he said.
"This continual programme of enhancements, combined with our unrivalled experience in communicating to a UK market that has a unique framework for regulatory disclosure, means that RNS will provide the premier service in a commercial environment."
The enhancements include an expanded facility for distributing all company communications, as well as making it possible to communicate video and audio content alongside RNS announcements.
They include:
- Further upgrades to the RNS internet submission mechanism that make it easier for companies to review and verify the final text of their announcement before publication;
- RNS Reach - a new investor communications service for non-regulatory announcements;
- RNS Mediastream - which enables video and audio content to be communicated alongside RNS announcements;
- RNS Insight - a web-based service that allows companies, media and analysts to monitor, search and analyse RNS announcements; and
- RNS Alert - an email-based service that customers can use to target key industry contacts and send them details of the announcement at the same time as it is published on RNS.
RNS releases 170,000 announcements each year, which are distributed to over 250,000 professional terminals world-wide, as well as to major financial websites and databases. 70 per cent of these announcements are submitted via the Exchange's sophisticated internet technology.
Investors can also access real-time RNS information free of charge through the Exchange's own website, which can be found at www.londonstockexchange.com
