ESMA updated its Q&A on the market abuse regulation

On 6 August 2021, ESMA updated its Questions and Answers (“Q&A”) on the Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 (the “Market Abuse Regulation”) to add three new questions regarding disclosure of inside information.
With this latest update of the Q&A, ESMA provides further clarity on the implication of the presumption contained within Article 10(2a) of the Regulation No. 1060/2009 on credit rating agencies (the “CRAR”) that credit ratings, rating outlooks and the information relating thereto shall be deemed as inside information until the disclosure of the respective information to the public. More specifically, ESMA has confirmed that:

• with respect to credit ratings, rating outlooks and the information relating thereto, it is not required to make an additional assessment as to whether the conditions of inside information stipulated under Article 7(1)(a) of the Market Abuse Regulation are met; credit ratings, rating outlooks and the information relating thereto should always be treated as inside information;
• the language “disclosure to public” in Article 10(2a) of the CRAR shall be interpreted to cover the disclosure of credit ratings, rating outlooks and the information relating thereto (i) through the rating agency’s public website and (ii) exclusively to rating agency’s subscribers.