What is "inside information"?

Insider information is “information of a precise nature, which has not been made public, relating, directly or indirectly, to one or more issuers or to one or more financial instruments, and which, if it were made public, would be likely to have a significant effect on the prices of those financial instruments or on the price of related derivative financial instruments” (MAR Art. 7).
Information is likely to have significant price impact if a “reasonable investor” would use it as part of its investment decision. In assessing what may constitute inside information, the following factors may be considered:

• the expected extent or significance of the decision or event in relation to the entire issuer’s business;
• the importance of the new information in relation to the factors determining the pricing of the financial instruments; or
• other factors that could affect the price of financial instruments.

Information regarding an event is already classified as an event when the event has actual prospects of being realized. The following may include inside information:

• Acquisitions or divestures
• Initiation of, termination or decision taken in connection with disputes
• Authority decisions
• Research results, events related to product development or inventions
• Significant deviations in relation to expected financial development (“profit warning”)
• Financial information stating that the issuer has financial difficulties
• Information related to subsidiary or associated companies
• Shareholder agreements that the issuer is aware of and which may affect the transferability of the issuer’s financial instruments
• Credit or customer losses
• Information about joint ventures
• Price or currency fluctuations