Coronavirus: The duty to inform the market

The rapid spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) throughout the world and the impact of administrative measures to contain it represent a growing challenge for the management of companies. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the existence of a pandemic. The main focus now is to guarantee the safety of workers and employees. However, the potential repercussions on the activities of companies – in the short and medium term – are vast, complex and, in certain cases, they conflict with each other.

Although the impact of the pandemic is difficult to assess and predict, issuers should consider whether COVID-19 will have an impact on their performance and to what extent they must disclose this information to the market. 
On 11 March, ESMA published a recommendation for financial markets participants, where it stresses the importance of:

• Business continuity planning;
• Market disclosure of significant privileged information relating to the impact of COVID-19 on their fundamentals, prospects or financial situation;
• Incorporating the risks of COVID-19 into their financial reporting;
• The managers of investment funds continuing to apply the risk management requirements.