Building an investor platform for a listed company involves more than design and user experience. There are legal and regulatory requirements that every company website must meet — and for publicly listed companies, the requirements go further still.

Requirements for all companies

Every company with a website is legally required to display the following information:

  • The registered company name
  • The company's registered number
  • The registered office address
  • The country in which the company is registered
  • The fact that it is a limited or public company (usually covered by spelling out the full name including ‘Limited’ or ‘PLC’)
  • Contact details, including an email address and a non-electronic contact method
  • The VAT number, if applicable
  • Details of any trade body or regulator registration

If you include directors' names on your website, you must list all of them.

Accessibility

Your website must be accessible to all users. Failure to meet accessibility standards may breach the Equality Act 2010. As a minimum, investor platforms should meet level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1).

Data protection

If you process any user data — including setting cookies — you are required to have a privacy policy explaining who controls the data and what you do with it.

Additional requirements for listed companies

Remuneration policies

The SRD II (Shareholder Rights Directive) requires all listed companies, whether AIM or Main Market, to publish a remuneration policy — either on their website or via a regulatory announcement.

AIM Rule 26

AIM-listed companies must comply with AIM Rule 26, which mandates a publicly available website containing specific information. This can appear anywhere on the site, though some companies create a dedicated Rule 26 page.

Required information includes:

  • A description of the business activities and operating locations
  • All stock exchanges on which the company is listed
  • The number of shares in issue, with treasury shares noted where applicable
  • A list of major shareholders (where notifications have been received that a shareholder has exceeded 3%, or 1% during an offer period under the Takeover Code)
  • A list of outstanding warrants, options, and other securities
  • Names and biographical descriptions of directors
  • Details of the nominated adviser (NOMAD), PR agency, lawyers, and accountants
  • Constitutional documents including articles of association
  • Whether the company is subject to the UK City Code on Takeovers and Mergers
  • Annual accounts, available for at least five years
  • All regulatory notifications made in the past 12 months
  • All inside information required to be disclosed publicly, retained on the website for at least five years

The requirements are significant, and meeting them properly requires both regulatory understanding and careful information architecture. This is core to the investor platforms we build.

If you would like a review of your current website against these requirements, get in touch.