What listed companies?
Who are we supervising?
As regards OMX Nordic Exchange Helsinki Oy (Helsinki Stock Exchange), FIN-FSA supervises the disclosure of information by issuers of shares, bonds and notes, and other securities. Issuers of shares are referred to here as 'listed companies'.
According to the principle of 'home country control', we primarily supervise listed Finnish issuers on the Helsinki Stock Exchange. According to the same principle, we also supervise Finnish issuers whose securities are listed on other regulated markets in the European Economic Area (EEA), such as the stock exchange in Stockholm or London. This is also the case where the security of a Finnish issuer has not been issued on the Helsinki Stock Exchange at all.
FIN-FSA does not supervise Finnish issuers whose security is subject to trading on an alternative market, such as AIM in London or First North Finland in Stockholm, because those markets are not classified as regulated markets according to the relevant EU Directives.
What do we supervise?
The purpose of our supervision is to maintain confidence in the securities market, which is a precondition for market functionality.
The core element of our supervision is monitoring of disclosure of information and the financial statements of listed companies, in order to ensure reliable, transparent, timely and unbiased information for investors. As regards listed companies, we see to it that owners of the companies fulfil their notification obligation. We also check that they maintain their insider register appropriately, and we supervise the securities trading of their management and other insiders. We also approve securities prospectuses.
Much of our work is proactive supervision, where we employ supervisory measures and open interaction to promote sound market practices and code of conduct. The standard 5.1 on disclosure of periodic information and standard 5.2b on the ongoing disclosure obligation of the issuer and shareholder comprise a package of key provisions on disclosure of information as well as FIN-FSA's recommendations, including application guidelines and examples.
17 June 2009