FCA exec: We’ve got to talk about London’s appetite for risk
A senior figure at the City watchdog has said the UK needs a debate over its “appetite to risk” if London’s stock exchanges are to bounce back from a miserable twelve months.
The capital has seen a dearth of IPOs over recent months, with plans in place to reform listing regimes and the research environment in an effort to breathe life into equity markets.
But the FCA’s Director of Market Oversight, Clare Cole – who last week caused a stir by calling out a “negative atmosphere” around London equities, in part created by the media – has told Morning Wire that reforms alone will not be enough to reinvigorate the capital.
“Our listing reform(s), however important, must sit within a wider debate about the UK’s appetite for risk and the upkeep of a wider ecosystem where firms feel supported and can grow and succeed,” she writes in a column for Morning Wire, published on our website today.
“Private and public sector voices must also consider what they can change to support the goal we’re all aiming for,” she continues.
There are signs that the IPO market may be slowly kicking back into life.
Last month saw Arm float in the US, with Birkenstock to follow at the beginning of next week.
However signs of London-specific IPOs remain scant.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has laid out plans to “make the UK a more attractive place for business” after a flurry of firms have ditched the UK in favour of foreign markets in recent months.
In April, the City watchdog said it had set out plans to achieve “better outcomes for consumers and markets” including reforms to the UK’s listing regime and an overhaul of consumer protections.
Under chief Nikhil Rathi, the FCA set out a three year strategy last year to become an “innovative, more assertive, more adaptive” regulator. Rathi said this morning that the latest 12 month strategy would feed into its three year vision and help “outcomes for consumers and markets”.