Tuesday, February 6, 2024 2:00 p.m.
Despite recent concerns that London’s IPO market is losing momentum to the US and Europe, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says the F1 team’s “speed and precision” will guide UK listing reform. Executives claimed that progress was being made. Year.
Claire Cole, the FCA’s director of market oversight, this morning defended the regulator’s efforts in overhauling rules for listings in the UK, citing the high-speed style of Mercedes and Ferrari.
“The adrenaline-fueled anticipation of success. The zoom of simultaneously rotating wheels delivers synchronized performance. Split-second decisions that can have far-reaching consequences,” Cole told the Westminster Business Forum. He spoke at
“You could be forgiven for thinking I was describing the F1 Grand Prix, but I had something much more exciting in mind: the UK capital markets ecosystem.”
The observer added that the team acted “not unlike a pit stop crew” with “pace, agility and ambition”.
A decline in initial public offerings (IPOs) and new listings in the UK has forced the FCA to review the UK’s listing rules over the past two years.
London’s IPO market fell to record lows last year as the global economic slowdown deepened. There are just 23 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange, down from 45 in 2022 and a 62% drop from 2021’s record high of 119 listed companies.
The number of companies listed in London is now down around 40% from its peak in 2008.
Last year, after London was hit by chipmaker Arm’s move to list in the US, the FCA decided to merge the premium and standard segments of the market to attract more companies to the market and red tape. announced plans to abolish it.
In a consultation document in December, regulators also agreed to eliminate the requirement for companies to obtain shareholder approval for large transactions, which was a factor in Arm’s decision to move to New York.
“The disadvantages that UK listed companies face when competing on the global M&A stage are very real,” Cole said today.
The changes will be consulted with the industry until March and are expected to be introduced from the second half of this year.
Cole made headlines last year when he pointed to “negative” publicity as one of the reasons for London’s IPO drought.
Questioner City AM Asked whether she felt the media still had a role to play in assessing the attractiveness of London’s public markets today, she said the FCA was “hopeful”. […] I think we can encourage a more positive attitude across the industry. ”
“I think we all have a role to play in that. The environment can be difficult. I know a lot of issuers have talked about this before. And it could be quite difficult. “I can’t,” she added.
Cole said the media “needs the freedom to speak and the freedom to disagree.”