Professional Review of UK Capital Markets

As an outcome of the introduction of the UKLR sourcebook in July 2024, both the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and FTSE Russell made consequential modifications to their guidelines. In July 2024, the LSE validated modifications to its Admission and Disclosure Standards to reflect the collapse of the previous premium and standard listing sections into the brand-new industrial company category.

It then issued a summary and FAQs validating its view when the last UKLR sourcebook was released in July 2024. One of the steps proposed as part of the Edinburgh Reforms in December 2022 was the establishment of the Accelerated Settlement Taskforce, chaired by Charlie Geffen. The objective of the taskforce was to think about the possible advantages of the UK transferring to a T +1 securities settlement cycle and lay out how this change might be implemented.

On 19 February 2025, the UK federal government announced it accepted the recommendation and the UK market intends to transfer to a T +1 settlement cycle on 11 October 2027. Among the suggestions from the UK Secondary Capital Raising Evaluation led to the establishment in July 2022 of the Digitisation Taskforce, chaired by Sir Douglas Flint.

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In July 2023, the taskforce published an Interim Report (read our summary here) which made a variety of recommendations, consisting of: legislation must be advanced, and company articles of association altered, as quickly as practicable to stop the issuance of new paper share certificates; the government must bring forward legislation to need dematerialisation of all share certificates at a future date; the government should seek advice from company and investor agents on the favored disposition of "residual" paper share interests and whether a time frame ought to be enforced for the recognition of untraced Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBOs); andintermediaries need to have an obligation, as a condition of involvement in the cleaning and settlement system, to put in location common innovation that enables them to react to UBO demands from companies within a really short time frame.

ANSR July UK PRs

Digitisation would target listed business with a view to minimizing costs and waste, and streamlining shareholder interaction. The report proposes extra procedures to guarantee that UBOs within the intermediated securities chain would be able to exercise shareholder rights that are presently only ensured for registered shareholders, in addition to measures to enhance interaction in between business and UBOs.