UK FCA wants to simplify IPO rules | Photo credits: New China/Sipa
by Huw Jones
LONDON, May 26 (Reuters) – The UK’s financial markets regulator announced several moves on Thursday for a possible overhaul of rules at the London Stock Exchange to attract more growth and development companies. offer shareholders greater investment opportunities.
The United Kingdom wishes to strengthen the attractiveness of the financial center of London as a world reference for IPOs.
Lagging behind Wall Street in terms of attracting technology companies to the markets, the London Stock Exchange must also face increased competition from Amsterdam since Brexit.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says it wants to “make the listing system (..) in the United Kingdom more efficient, easier to understand and more competitive”.
In particular, it suggests that companies wishing to be listed in London no longer have to choose between two different segments, standard and premium, with distinct standards.
“Instead, all listed companies would have to meet one set of criteria and then could choose to adhere to another set of conditions,” the FCA said in a statement. “Companies and their shareholders would decide for themselves whether these additional obligations are right for them.”
The FCA last July relaxed the rules applicable to SPACs (special purpose acquisition companies) following the interest aroused in New York and Amsterdam by these investment vehicles.
In December, the watchdog said it would allow a specific form of dual-class share structures, a feature of the New York market that appeals to the tech sector. (Reportage Huw Jones, French version Laetitia Volga, edited by Bertrand Boucey)