London Stock Exchange celebrates the launch of the new Main Market

The launch of the new London Stock Exchange Main Market and the most significant listing reforms to the UK's Listing Rules in a generation were celebrated at this morning’s Market Open. London Stock Exchange plc CEO, Dame Julia Hoggett, DBE, welcomed special guest Tulip Siddiq MP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister, to open the market and to highlight the vital role our capital markets play in the UK economy. 

The team celebrating on the balcony at LSEG during the welcome ceremony.

The launch of the new Main Market is a hugely significant milestone in the capital markets reform agenda that the UK is currently embarked upon. The new rules came into effect at the end of July 2024 and include new ways for companies to raise money in the UK, new ways of carrying out mergers and acquisitions and new ways of investing in the UK’s capital markets.

The Market Open also marks the start of the second annual CMIT conference, which brings together senior leaders from across the economy including company leaders, financial market practitioners, professional services, regulators and policy makers, to drive forward reform of the UK’s capital markets.

Discover more about the new Main Market.

Rewatch the livestream from the Market Open ceremony:

Welcome to the London Stock Exchange. Can you feel it?The buzz of energy just before the market opens.It feels like the whole city is waiting. We love this moment.For most people, when they think of this place,they think of share prices, all those green and red numbersscrolling around the building. Behind those numbers,there are other deeper values that are just as important.The value of delivery from media to medicines,from technology to tea. Capital markets help finance the productsand services that we use every day. The value of innovation,from vaccines to batteries. Breakthroughs don't come cheap.We connect great ideas to capital, helping to build a better futurefor everybody, and values like trust. For 300 years, trust has been at the heartof every transaction in this city. It still is,hence our motto: ''Our word is our bond.'' Today and every day,these are the values behind the numbers, and they're the reasonthat we're able to bring you moments like this.It's only seconds away now. Everyone is holding their breath.Let's not keep them waiting. It's time to hit the buttonand open London's market.Good morning. Now I'm actually goingto start my speech by quoting the minister,because I think it's the best way we could start the day.The minister has just said: "Who needs Oasis ticketswhen you can open the London Stock Exchange,''which I think is a very good way of us thinking about it.Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the London Stock Exchange.This morning marks several very special occasions.Firstly, we are honoured to have Tulip SiddiqMP, Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister,here with us to open the market and give us her thoughts on the vital roleour capital markets play for the UK. Welcome, Minister,and to your first opportunity to open the markets as City Minister.Now I think we can officially say that summer is over.I wanted to take this opportunity to mark a hugely significant milestonein the capital markets reform agenda that happened during the summer.The launch of the new consolidated main market.These new rules came into effect on the 29th of July,and we have, in fact, already had our first international listingunder them, an illustration of their impact.We wanted to also take a moment today to reflect on that achievementand to give credit to the teams that the Financial Conduct Authority,His Majesty's Treasury, alongside Lord Hill and Mark Austin,who through their reviews and with many others, played such a pivotalrole in crafting and shepherding these changes through.Finally, today we're hugely excited to be hosting this second,and I don't know if I'm now allowed to say,annual SEMIC conference at the exchange. Today's conferencebrings together senior leaders across the city,practitioners, regulators, policymakers, and most importantly,the users and providers of capital to develop a cross-city consensuson our future direction of travel. It also provides an opportunityto mark the progress that we have already madeon a remarkable reform agenda. Now, as SEMIC,we and I know I am most guilty of this, talk about an agendacalled Five Fingers and a Glove. Those five fingers are primaryand secondary capital raising rules, availability of high-qualitycell-side research, the availability of risk capital,corporate governance and remuneration, and the ecosystemfor scaling consequential private companies.The Glove is the culture, how we talk about entrepreneurshipand the capital markets, and how we, perhaps most importantlyas a nation, celebrate success and provide a beacon to people upand down this country to aspire to. It's in that very spiritof celebrating success, and indeed the enormous progressmade on that first finger of reform, our primary and secondarycapital raising rules, that we wanted to kick offthe SEMIC conference today. Fundamentally, SEMIC is about bringingeveryone together to have that critical conversationabout how we ensure our capital markets serve not only the UK's roleas a global financial centre, but equally critically,drive UK domestic growth. With that, it feels entirely appropriatefor me to hand over to Tulip Siddiq and someone I knowhas been intensely focused on just that question for many years,and I know will remain so in office. Thank you all for coming.Thank you all for getting up on a dark, wet,and dingy morning so early.Thank you all so for coming to the SEMIC conference.With that, let me hand it over to the ministerThank you, Julia.This has made up for not getting Oasis tickets,so thank you. Good morning, and thanks for the invitation.It's so lovely to be here today, and it's one of my first addressesin my new role as City Minister. It's a very deliberate decisionthat I've taken because growth is the defining missionof this government, which you've probably heardus say over and over again. From the top down to the centre out,we recognise the importance of capital marketsto delivering this growth mission that we've consistently talked aboutfor the last few years. As the Chancellor herself said,many of you would have heard at the Barclays CEO forumrecently: ''When the city succeeds, Britain succeeds,"and nothing demonstrates that better than our capital markets.It's not just that when the markets do well,our economy does well. Already this year, more than £20 billion worthof equity capital has been raised in London alone.More than three times what has been raised in the next three European exchangescombined, to support businesses to invest, innovate, and grow.According to a new financial report from 2020, 90 percentof large UK companies regularly use capital markets,supporting some 5.5 million jobs. It's not just large companiesthat benefit from our markets. Over the five years just gone,more than half of our capital raised on European growth marketswas raised in London. Although these facts speak for themselves,I'll spell out what they say: ''UK capital marketswill underpin our mission of sustained and economicallymeaningful growth.'' I also know that for our capital markets,stability and just the right amount of riskis the formula for economic growth. However, too much political changecan unbalance that formula by moderating the market's abilityto signal opportunities for profit at the risk of loss.Let me be clear to everyone who has raised this with me.We will not pursue change for its own sake.The economist Adam Smith once wrote about: ''An invisible hand.''A metaphor for the forces that guide decision-making in the markets.I want you to be in no doubt, because in the marketplace of ideas,evidence will be the hand that guides our decision-makingin policymaking generally and capital markets policy,specifically. You can describe our approach, the existing programmeof capital markets reform, with this timeless saying,which is: ''If it ain't broke, don't fix it.''I hope that reassures some people who've raised this with meabout continuity. While looking at the existing plansfor reform to our capital markets, I was struck by three things.Firstly, the proposals are technically rigorous.Secondly, they have the support of our financial services industryand its regulators. Lastly, and most importantly, I knowthey will support our mission of sustainableand meaningful economic growth. This government and I will support them.I'll begin that support by highlighting some of the mostexciting policy initiatives, some of which Julie and I were discussingbefore we came. For example, the FCA's changes to our listing ruleswill revolutionize our markets. By making changes to ruleson dual-class share structures, related party transactions,and introducing a new international secondary listing category,we will directly align our markets with leading international counterpartsand provide greater flexibility to firms and founders raising capital.The impact of some of these changes is already being felt,and I'm delighted that some firms are already taking advantage of them.The industry will also continue to collaboratewith a number of industry-driven initiatives,working closely with our Industry technical group, led by Andrew Douglas,on building momentum towards faster settlementof securities trades. I look forward to the final reportof the task force led by Sir Douglas Flint on improving the current systemof share ownership and eliminating the use of paper share certificates.We remain fully committed. I just said before we came on,to take forward the new Private Intermittent Securitiesand Capital Exchange System, or PISCES, a world-first bespokeregulated market for private company shares.This will help investors invest in exciting private companiesand support innovative companies in growing and, ultimately, IPOs.To my mind, government works best when it's underpinnedby honest and open conversation. That's why it's very important to meto thoroughly examine the feedback from the consultation earlier this yearand ensure that all of your opinions are properly reflectedin our decision-making process. While it's clear to methat there is huge support for the PISCES project,it's also clear that we need to tailor our thinkingfurther on the issues of disclosure and market abuse.Please be assured that my officials and I will continue working with you.In that spirit, my officials will be in attendanceat the roundtable on PISCES later today. I'll ensure that all the conclusionsfrom this roundtable are considered in our final proposalto ensure that PISCES delivers on its promise.I know that we can go even further to restore competitivenessto our capital markets. Of course, a lot of youwill be looking forward to the Mansion House speechand to the budget later on, which will set out the plansfor our sector in more detail. I would urge you, if you haven't already,to look at the report of financing growth that I published earlier this year,which unapologetically puts renovating our capital marketsat the heart of this government's growth mission.It's what we campaigned on, and that's whatwe intend to deliver in government. They include proposalsto encourage the investment of capital freed by solvency,two reforms of UK infrastructure, and green industries.To empower the British Business Bank with a more ambitious remit, for example,providing match funding to spin out seed funds.A landmark review of the UK's pensions and retirement saving landscapeto explicitly consider the role of pension fundsin capital and financial markets to boost both their returnsand broader economic growth. Confirming this reviewwas one of the first announcements made by the Chancellor,and this phase will be led by my colleague Emma Reynolds,who is the Minister for Pensions. She will be speaking here later today,and I encourage you to join this session on the UK pensions landscape,where Emma will outline the exciting plans that we've undertaken as a government.I do recognize that these proposals are challenging.I'm not naive about it, but I am confident,looking around this room today and seeing the expertise here.If we work together, we will be delivering thisbecause sustained and meaningful economic growthis not just the government's mission, it's a missionthat we share with everyone in this room. Now let's go out and deliver it.Thank you, Julia.

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