FCA announces “biggest changes” to the UK’s listing regime “in over three decades”
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has overhauled the country’s listing rules in an effort to “support a wider range of companies to issue their shares on a UK exchange, increasing opportunities for investors”.
FCA to overhaul the UK’s listing regime
The FCA anticipates that the new rules will streamline the listing process, introducing a single category and simplified eligibility criteria for firms looking to go public in the UK.
Additionally, it says the updated regulations, which will apply from 29 July 2024, will “remove the need for votes on significant or related party transactions and offer flexibility around enhanced voting rights”. However, the regulator states that shareholder approvals will still be required for “key events”, such as reverse takeovers and decisions to delist shares.
Described as the most significant change to the UK listing regime in over three decades, this move aligns the UK’s share listing rules more closely with international market standards, according to the FCA.
The regulator says that while the updated guidelines will preserve “appropriate” investor protections to hold company management accountable, it acknowledges that the “new rules involve allowing greater risk” but will “better reflect the risk appetite the economy needs to achieve growth”.
Speaking on the changes, newly appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves says that the revised rules represent a “significant first step towards reinvigorating our capital markets, bringing the UK in line with international counterparts and ensuring we attract the most innovative companies to list here”.
According to the UK Listing Review, the UK accounted for only 5% of initial public offerings (IPOs) globally between 2015 and 2020, with the number of listed companies in the UK falling by about 40% from a recent peak in 2008.
