Editorial code

This code sets the rules for everyone who writes, edits, checks or decides to publish for The Investment Daily, including freelancers and contributors. In short, we report from primary sources, correct mistakes in public, take no payment for coverage, disclose our interests, never deal ahead of our own coverage and never tell a reader what to buy.

It applies to both editions and to the UK, India and US desks. This version is dated 9 October 2026.

Journalism, not advice

We explain how investments work, compare them and measure them. We do not make personal recommendations, publish tips, price targets or model portfolios, or say whether a reader should buy, sell or hold any investment. Pieces about investments carry a note saying so.

Pieces about high-risk investments, such as SEIS and EIS shares, crowdfunding, unlisted loan notes and cryptoassets, carry a plain risk box. It says the reader could lose all the money invested, may find the investment hard to sell, and states which protection, if any, applies from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and the Financial Ombudsman Service.

On the India desk we publish no buy, sell or hold views, price targets or opinions on new share issues for Indian securities, and we do not use recent price moves to suggest where a price is heading.

Accuracy and sourcing

  • Primary sources come first: legislation, regulators, central banks, official statistics and company filings. We use a secondary source only where no primary source exists, and we say so.
  • Every figure, rate, allowance, date and rule is linked to its source and dated. Tax rules state the tax year and who they apply to.
  • If we cannot verify a figure, we leave it out.
  • Wherever a past return appears, we say that past performance is not a guide to future returns. We do not forecast returns.
  • Quotes are real, attributed and accurate. We do not invent people, quotes or case studies, and any illustration with made-up numbers is labelled as an example.
  • Criticism of a named firm, including every entry in Scam Watch and the Red Flag Register, rests on the public record (the FCA, the Insolvency Service, the courts or Companies House) and needs an editor’s approval.

Our full approach to figures is on how we count.

Corrections

When we get something wrong, we correct it promptly and say what changed and when. We do not quietly change figures. Significant corrections are listed in our public corrections log.

Independence

Editors alone decide what we cover and what we say. Advertisers, sponsors, our publisher’s other businesses and the firms we write about have no say over our journalism, and they do not see it before publication. We will check facts with the subject of a story, but nobody outside the newsroom approves our copy. Our commercial rules are on independence and how we make money.

No paid coverage

We do not take payment, commission or any other benefit in return for coverage, for a place in a table or data product, or for a link. Nobody can pay to be included in, or left out of, our reporting or our data. We accept no gifts beyond a token value. If a firm pays for travel or an event place that a piece relies on, the piece says so.

Advertising and editorial are kept apart

  • Advertisements are labelled “Advertisement”, look different from our journalism and never appear inside our data tables.
  • Every advertisement for an investment is a financial promotion. We carry one only if it is made by an authorised firm or lawfully approved by one under section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, and we record who made or approved it and when.
  • Sponsored content, if we carry it, is labelled before the headline with who paid for it and who approved it, and uses a separate design.
  • Editorial pages carry no affiliate links, dealing links or forms that pass your details to a product provider.

Conflicts of interest

Everyone covered by this code declares their investments, other jobs and business interests to the editor, who keeps a register. A writer does not cover a firm they work for, advise or hold a significant interest in. Our publisher, TWC, owns other titles and businesses; if a piece covers a company or product in which TWC or its owners have an interest, the piece says so.

Staff dealing

Nobody covered by this code may buy or sell an investment, or a derivative linked to it, from the time they start work on a piece about it until 30 days after that piece is published. Nobody may trade on knowledge of our coverage before it is public, or pass that knowledge to anyone else.

These rules do not apply to holdings in diversified funds, pensions or portfolios managed on a discretionary basis, where the person does not choose the individual investments. Existing holdings may be kept, and are disclosed as set out below.

Holdings disclosure

If a piece names a company and the writer, the editor who decides to publish it, or their spouse, civil partner or child under 18 could gain, or avoid a loss, if readers act on it, the piece discloses that interest. This follows the conditions for journalists in article 20 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005, which covers shares and the options, futures and contracts for differences linked to them. We apply the same disclosure to every investment we name, including funds, bonds and cryptoassets, and we keep a register of holdings for everyone covered by this code.

Use of AI tools

We use AI tools in research and drafting. They help us find and read sources, summarise documents, check figures against sources and write first drafts. A person checks the figures against their sources, edits the piece and approves it before publication. Nothing is published automatically.

  • AI tools do not decide what we cover or what we publish.
  • We do not use AI to invent quotes, people, sources or data.
  • We do not publish AI-generated images as if they were photographs of real events, places or people.
  • The person who approves a piece is responsible for it, however it was drafted.

Desk pieces are often drafted this way. See TID Editorial Desk.

Complaints

If you think we have broken this code, email editor@theinvestmentdaily.com with “Complaint” in the subject line. Tell us the page, what you think is wrong and why. We will acknowledge your complaint within five working days and aim to give you a full answer within 20 working days. If you are not satisfied with the editor’s answer, you can ask for it to be reviewed by the publisher.

Reports of factual errors are handled under our corrections policy. Concerns about your personal data are covered in our privacy notice.