Issuer

Issuers sit at the start of the securities chain. They offer shares, bonds or other instruments to investors, either privately or to the public on an exchange. Once securities are in the hands of the public, the issuer carries ongoing obligations: publishing accurate financial results, announcing price-sensitive news promptly, and following the rules of the exchange where it is listed. Governments and public agencies issue bonds too, though they are usually treated differently from companies. An issuer is not the same as the bank that arranges the sale, or the exchange that hosts trading. Compliance teams meet the term in prospectuses, disclosure policies and insider lists, because the issuer is the source of most inside information. Pinning down the issuer is the first step in working out whose disclosure duties apply, and who answers if they are missed.

A pump manufacturer lists its shares on a stock exchange and later sells bonds to fund a new plant. It is the issuer of both. When it learns that a major customer has cancelled a large contract, its compliance team must decide quickly whether the news is price-sensitive and needs an announcement to the market.