Further reform of listing regime planned to boost growth and competitiveness
The FCA has announced their vision for possible reforms to make the listing regime more effective, easier to understand and more competitive in order to attract more high quality, growth companies and to give investors greater opportunities, with comments due by 28 July 2022.
Under one of the proposals, the FCA would no longer require companies wishing to list in the UK to choose between two different segments with different branding and standards. All listed companies would instead need to meet one set of criteria and could then choose to opt into a further set of obligations. These would be focussed on enhancing shareholder engagement and be overseen by the FCA.
Feedback to the FCA’s earlier discussion paper, suggested many were keen to keep these additional safeguards. Companies and their shareholders would decide for themselves whether these additional obligations were right for them.
According to the UK Listing Review, the number of listed companies in the UK has fallen by about 40% from a recent peak in 2008. Between 2015 and 2020, the UK accounted for only 5% of IPOs globally.
However, last year was the best year for raising investment for listed companies since 2007. In all £16.9 billion was raised in UK IPOs, including 126 companies listing on the London Stock Exchange. The FCA is aiming to build on this success with various reforms to the listing regime.
Published 26 May, 2022