Policy paper: Dematerialisation Market Action Taskforce

The Dematerialisation Market Action Taskforce (DEMAT), chaired by Mark Austin CBE, has been set up to take forward reforms to the UK's shareholding framework

From: HM Treasury

Documents

Terms of Reference for Dematerialisation Market Action Taskforce (DEMAT)

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On 15 July 2025 the Digitisation Taskforce published its final report, which recommended a staged approach to removing paper share certificates and ultimately moving to a fully intermediated system of shareholding in the UK. The government accepted the recommendations made in the report and set out in its response how it intends to take these forward.

One of the recommendations was to establish a ‘Technical Group' to work with industry stakeholders to deliver parts of the final report. The government has therefore appointed Mark Austin CBE to establish and chair the Dematerialisation Market Action Taskforce (DEMAT) which will take forward this work. Mark is a corporate partner at Latham & Watkins, specialising in capital markets, and is a member of the Capital Markets Industry Taskforce.

The government has published Terms of Reference which set out the objectives for the DEMAT and its governance structure.