(Con):...Do the
Government intend as a matter of urgency to act on the
recommendations in the Listings
Review undertaken by my noble friend ? Does the Treasury
intend to undertake a fundamental review of the prospectus
regime, as recommended by the review? Does my noble friend agree
with the recommendation that prospectus requirements should be
changed so that, in future, admission to a regulated market and
offers to the public are treated separately? Could she tell the
Committee whether she thinks that the empowerment of the FCA
through the designated activities regime will make stock exchange
listings more expensive and cumbersome than they have become
during the past 14 years, or less? In that time, as my noble
friend Lord Hill pointed out, the number of companies listed on
the London Stock Exchange has declined by 40%. I look forward to
hearing the Minister’s comments...
(LD): I apologise; it
was the noble Baroness, Lady Noakes. I have attacked the wrong
conspirator, as it were. I say to her that my concern, from
listening to various people argue for changes in the rules that
govern short selling, is that that is exactly what they have in
mind, the argument being that if we allow short selling
then Illiquid markets
will suddenly become much more liquid because many more players
will be attracted into that particular end of the market. There
is a great deal of risk at play, so I am quite nervous about
making that kind of change. We always assume that the investors
who would engage in these products would be highly sophisticated
and understand fully the risks they are involved in, but the
practical reality that we see in everyday life is that many
people get involved who, frankly, have insufficient understanding
and find themselves very much at risk.
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