The London Stock Exchange says it will run its Regulatory News Service (RNS) operation as a commercial venture after the Financial Services Authority opens up the market to competition later this year.
Confirmation of the Exchange's commitment came in its response to the FSA's Consultation Paper (CP92) on proposed changes to the current UK market news dissemination arrangements. The FSA proposes to strip the London Stock Exchange of its monopoly on the publication of price sensitive information, opening it up to competition from third party operators such as PRNewswire.
RNS releases around 170,000 announcements each year, which are distributed to over 250,000 professional terminals worldwide. In the past year, the Exchange has invested heavily in developing RNS, including the launch of new Internet services last autumn.
Details of pricing and further enhancements to RNS will be announced after the FSA has concluded its review says the Exchange.