Update for LSE Fixed Income Issuers and Debt Capital Markets Advisers on the Professional Securities Market and the amended International Securities Market Rulebook
- From 19 January 2026 the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will no longer review or approve Listing Particulars.
- No new issuers or non-fungible securities will be admitted to trading on the Professional Securities Market after 19 January 2026.
- Following the rule change by the FCA, existing issuers with securities admitted to the Professional Securities Market will continue to be subject to the continuing obligations that were in force prior to the introduction of the new UK Listing Rules on 19 January 2026.
- We would like to remind issuers and advisors that wholesale debt securities can be admitted to the International Securities Market (ISM), our UK primary wholesale debt MTF.
- London Stock Exchange’s amended ISM Rulebook for fixed income issuers comes into effect on 19 January 2026, to coincide with the implementation of the FCA’s Prospectus Rules: Admission to Trading on a Regulated Market sourcebook (PRM).
- Introduction of a new definition for “qualified investor” within the ISM Rulebook to make it clear that ISM is a specialist market aimed at qualified investors in accordance with Regulation 16 of the Public Offers and Admissions to Trading Regulations 2024 (POATRs).
- The amendments revise the definition of ‘exempt issuer’ to align with FCA PRM changes, including an expansion to cover cases where a sukuk is backed by an entity classified as exempt. They also introduce provisions that enable further tap issues without the need to produce admission particulars.
This note provides an update for Issuers and Advisers regarding amendments to the International Securities Market Rulebook as well as upcoming changes to the Professional Securities Market and the use of Listing Particulars. The updates to the Professional Securities Market follow the publication of the FCA policy statement (PDF) on new rules for the public offers and admissions to trading regime. We would like to inform issuers and advisors that, going forward, the Professional Securities Market should be referred to by its full name rather than the acronym ‘PSM’, to avoid confusion with the Private Securities Market.
Professional Securities Market
The FCA has confirmed that from 19 January 2026 it will no longer accept Listing Particulars as an admission document for securities seeking listing and trading on the Professional Securities Market. As a result, the London Stock Exchange (the Exchange) will no longer be able to accept an application for a new security class to be admitted to the Professional Securities Market.
From 19 January 2026, issuers seeking to admit new securities to the Official List of the FCA and to trading on a market operated by the Exchange, will only be able to admit securities to the Main Market, which is a UK regulated market.
Further issuances of securities that are fungible with existing securities that are already admitted to trading on the Professional Securities Market will still be permitted. The Exchange will continue to accept applications for further issuances of fungible securities for admission to the Professional Securities Market after 19 January 2026, in accordance with the admission requirements as set out in the Admission and Disclosure Standards of the Exchange. Note that an application will not need to be made to the FCA to admit further issuances of securities that are fungible with existing securities that are already listed on the Official List of the FCA.; from 19 January 2026 the FCA will only admit securities as a class to the Official List.
In addition, the FCA has confirmed that from 19 January 2026 existing issuers with securities admitted to the Professional Securities Market will continue to be subject to the continuing obligations that were in force prior to the introduction of the new UK Listing Rules on 19 January 2026.
We would like to remind issuers and advisors that wholesale debt securities can be admitted to the International Securities Market, our UK primary wholesale debt MTF.
International Securities Market Rulebook
Following a consultation the London Stock Exchange has published an updated version of the International Securities Market (ISM) Rulebook, effective from 19 January 2026.
Many of the amendments are administrative or clarificatory in nature or changes that brought ISM into line with our other markets and international markets. The other new amendments to the ISM Rulebook are as follows:
- Amendment to the definition of “exempt issuer” to reflect the changes to the FCA PRM prospectus exempt requirements. In addition, we are proposing to expand the definition to ensure that where a sukuk is backed by an entity that would be categorised as exempt (if it were to issue a debt security), then that sukuk transaction would also be exempt.
- Amendment to Section 3 of the ISM Rulebook through the introduction of paragraph 8 and paragraph 9. Paragraph 8 will facilitate further issues of a class of securities already admitted to ISM (i.e. tap issues) without having to produce admission particulars.
- Updates to the introduction section, definitions and item 4.1 of Schedule 3 to the ISM Rulebook to expressly include reference to the new Qualified Investors definition under the POATRs.
This was the second of two consultations that we undertook this year to amend the ISM Rulebook. The first consultation introduced the ISM Express Route for issuers as well as the removal of the need for a sukuk issuer to apply for a derogation from the ISM eligibility requirement that the issuer must have produced audited financial statements covering two years.
The updated Rulebook and supporting materials, including a factsheet outlining the routes to market on ISM, is available on the London Stock Exchange website.
