On March 31, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published an updated version of its statement on short selling bans and reporting (the Statement).

In the Statement, the FCA notes the European Securities Markets Authority’s (ESMA) decision issued on March 16, to temporarily amend the threshold for notifying net short positions to EU financial regulators under the Short Selling Regulation (SSR) from 0.2 percent of issued share capital to 0.1 percent. For further information on the original statement, the earlier advisory prepared by Katten is available here.

The FCA also confirms that the system changes required by ESMA’s decision have been made in the UK. From April 6 (the Notification Date), the FCA can receive notifications at the lower threshold. The Statement also notes that firms are not required to amend and resubmit notifications submitted to the FCA between March 16 and April 3.

The FCA requests that firms make best effort to report at the lower threshold from the Notification Date. However, the FCA acknowledges that it may not be possible for certain firms to amend their systems by the Notification Date. If this is the case, these firms should contact the FCA at PMU@fca.org.uk

The Statement notes that the new reporting obligation will apply to shares for which the FCA is the relevant financial regulator and not to exempted shares where the principal venue for the trading of the shares is located outside the EU.

The Statement is available here.