Transparency Regulation and Stock Price Informativeness: Evidence From the European Union’s Transparency Directive

Abstract

We examine changes in stock price informativeness following the European Union’s Transparency Directive (TPD). The TPD, implemented by country between 2007 and 2009, enhanced corporate transparency through mandating regular firm financial disclosures and the dissemination of financial reports. Using stock return synchronicity as a proxy for stock price informativeness, we find that price informativeness improved following implementation of the TPD. This improvement was more pronounced in countries with strong regulatory environments than those with weak regulatory environments. We also examine a later amendment to the TPD that eliminated the requirement of quarterly financial disclosures and document an increase in stock return synchronicity following the amendment, suggesting that it may have been premature from the standpoint of public information flow. Our findings support prior research suggesting that transparency regulations improve financial information. https://doi.org/10.2308/jiar-52383