Britain is liberalising its stockmarket-listing rules, again

Julia hoggett has an unenviable task. She started running the London Stock Exchange (lse) in 2021. The previous year the value of Apple, an American tech giant, had overtaken that of the entire ftse 100 index of London-listed shares. At that time she was a senior official with the Financial Conduct Authority (fca), a regulator; she remembers sitting down and scribbling out a list of all the things about Britain’s stockmarket that needed fixing. Then she became its boss.

Ever since Ms Hoggett has been busy working with the fca to put those bullet points into action. Rules on dual-class shares, which grant directors extra voting rights and are popular with startup founders, have been relaxed. Early investors can now hang on to more of their shares when a firm lists, rather than having to sell. Prospectus requirements are becoming less onerous and the process for raising follow-on capital more streamlined.