Placing securities on a restricted trading list

Hi guys, does anyone happen to know what the required protocol is when a firm comes in contact with material nonpublic information?

i.e. In the question below, the answer states that the firm should place the securities on a restricted list. Now if you were about to issue a recommendation - would it still be allowed to place the securities on a restricted list and NOT ISSUE the the recommendation? Many thanks again

Q) Andrews, a private wealth manager, is conducting interviews for a new research analyst for his firm. One of the candidates is Wright, an analyst with a local investment bank. During the interview, while Wright is describing his analytical skills, he mentions a current merger in which his firn is acting as the adviser. Andrews has heard rumours of a possible merger between the two companies, but no releases have been made by the companies concerned. Which of the following actions by Andrews is least likely a violation of the Code and Standards?

A. Waiting until the next day before trading on the information to allow time for it to become public.

B. Notifying all investment managers in his firm of the new information so none of their clients are disadvantaged.

C. Placing the securities mentioned as part of the merger on the firm’s restricted trading list.

Answer: C

This confuses me too. Sometimes they say to put it on a restricted list, sometimes they say that putting it on a restricted list could send a signal to the market. Very confusing.

My 0.02 on why this particular question would be easy to come to conclusion of C is because of how bad A and B are. Notifying lots of people about material nonpublic info is absolutely a terrible thing to do (I believe you’re supposed to notify the compliance director in your firm as the only person, etc.) and A doesn’t wait for the information to go public (nothing in question tells us it has or when it will be released) so definitely not A. C is the easy choice here. But I agree, I thought I read something about putting stocks on restricted lists drawing attention to them…

Hmm I know your’re not allowed to alter a recommendation but I’m not sure the protocol when you come across material nonpublic info?

i.e. Do you put the security on a restricted list in every other scenario?