UK markets reforms 'biggest in generation'

THE boss of the London Stock Exchange has heralded the biggest reforms to UK capital markets “in a generation’, as the Chancellor backed changes she believes are “reinvigorating” the City after early signs of a revival.

- ANNA WISE

Rachel Reeves was due to appear at an event marking the recent success of London's stock markets, but pulled out after renewed tariff threats from US President Donald Trump over Greenland.

Dame Julia Hoggett, chief executive of the LSE, said new rules for firms raising capital in the UK were resulting in the “greatest set of primary markets reforms in a generation’.

The measures, introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority, lower costs and speed things up for businesses looking to secure investment and raise capital in the UK.

Dame Julia said retail investors have been a “critical linchpin” of the stock exchange, but “over the last 20 years or so... we have seen retail investors have less and less access to our market, and become more and more disenfranchised’.