The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has confirmed a series of reforms to the UK’s capital markets regime, aimed at lowering costs for businesses and widening investment access for consumers.
The changes are designed to make it easier for companies to raise capital, issue corporate bonds, and list on public markets, while reducing administrative burdens.
The reforms are part of the FCA’s broader effort to shift from pre-emptive checks to a more disclosure-based regime.
Among the measures, companies that are already listed will no longer need to publish a full prospectus to issue additional shares, except in limited cases.
The threshold for requiring a prospectus when issuing new shares has been raised from 20% to 75% of existing share capital, a change expected to save UK companies around £40m annually.
FCA announces plan to encourage ‘informed risk’ to drive growth
The time between publishing a prospectus and launching an initial public offering (IPO) has been cut in half, from six days to three, helping firms list more quickly and improving access for retail investors.
The FCA has also simplified rules for corporate bond issuance by introducing a single disclosure standard for both large and small bond offerings.
This will make it easier to issue bonds in smaller, more investible sizes, supporting retail access and offering new sources of income, particularly for later-life investors.
To further support smaller growth companies, the regulator is launching a new Public Offer Platform (POP).
This will allow firms to raise more than £5m in capital without a full prospectus, provided the offer is made through an authorised firm.
POPs will function similarly to crowdfunding platforms but will be used for larger, off-market deals.
Simon Walls, executive director of markets at the FCA, said: “These bold shifts promote innovation, lower costs and enable a broader investor base.
“Our capital markets are an economic engine, and we want to keep them roaring.”
