London Stock Exchange chief Julia Hoggett: The City can’t just be for ‘fat cats’
Brits need to stop thinking of the City as the realm of “fat cats” and “grandees” in order to widen access to the UK’s capital markets and boost the flow of cash into the UK’s beleaguered listed companies, the London Stock Exchange‘s boss has warned.
In an impassioned plea to a conference full of asset managers and City bigwigs, Julia Hoggett said she wants “every mother in Cumbria” to understand the role of the stock market and why the City boosts wealth around the country.
“It is […] about how we talk about the city, how we talk about capital markets and how we talk about their purpose for people. I want every mother in Cumbria to care that our capital markets are effective because that’s what’s going to fund a startup in her area,” Hoggett said.
“That means her kids can get a high paying job and afford to buy a house in that area. That means that she can grow up near her grandkids.
“That should be the way we talk about the capital markets in this country. It isn’t talking about it as city fat cats and grandees.”
Hoggett was speaking at the launch of a new report from think tank New Financial which laid out a series of recommendations to unlock a wave of cash from retail investors into the UK’s capital markets.
However, the UK lags well behind its peers in terms of the population’s participation in the market. Just 11 per cent of people directly hold shares in the UK, a decline of 50 per cent since 2004. Some 22 per cent of the population of Sweden own shares directly.
Around £740bn could be unleashed into the market with better retail investor participation, according to New Financial.
Hoggett said the UK had been held back by cultural barriers to investing and the fact that the City was only talked about as something on “Radio Four between 6:15-6:25 and 7:20-7:25 often in a really bitty, opaque ways that doesn’t draw a narrative together”.
The fresh comments come after a slew of government-commissioned reviews that have looked to open up access to the market to more investors. The London Stock Exchange also snapped up a stake in retail investment platform PrimaryBid in 2020 in a bid to allow retail investors to back floats in London.