London weighs changes to IPO rules to attract foreign capital
The remarks by UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds came a day after Chancellor Rachel Reeves outlined plans to loosen regulations on financial services and, potentially, purge red tape across the broader economy.
'We want companies to start here, scale here, stay here to list,' Reynolds told journalists on Wednesday. Even as she insisted London remained a 'leader' when it came to public listings specifically, and capital markets generally, she acknowledged that the British capital faced 'more intense global competition than previously,' from New York exchanges as well as Asian markets. 'We think that competition is good… It keeps us all on our toes.'
Indeed, London faces challengers from both west and east when it comes to luring — and retaining — major public listings, a contest it appears to be losing: The CEO of AstraZeneca, Britain's biggest company by market capitalization, wants to move its stock market listing to the US, The Times of London reported this month, while the Chinese retailer Shein has confidentially filed IPO documents in Hong Kong in order to pressure UK regulators to accelerate their listing process, according to the Financial Times.
— Prashant Rao
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