Making a complaint | Rules and regulations

The legislation which governs the conduct of investment business in the UK is the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”) which came into force on 1 December 2001, superseding the Financial Services Act 1986. The statutory body with overall responsibility for enforcing the legislation relating to investment business under FSMA is the FCA. The Exchange is a Recognised Investment Exchange within the terms of FSMA and is regulated directly by the FCA.

With the implementation of FSMA, all the previous dispute resolution schemes for investment business, banking services, and insurance were amalgamated into a unified scheme, the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”) which, although set up under FSMA legislation, is independent of the FCA.

With minor exceptions [Note 1] , each firm which carries out investment business must be authorised to do so by the FCA. Such firms include stockbroking and member firms of the Exchange, investment and fund management companies, insurance companies and pension providers, independent financial advisers, solicitors, accountants and actuaries carrying out investment business (but see below).

Consideration of eligibility for listing companies on the Official List, is undertaken by the FCA.

The interests of shareholders during takeovers fall under the remit of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers (“Takeover Panel”), a non-statutory body, independent of the Exchange and the FCA.

[1] The exceptions refer to firms of solicitors, accountants and actuaries which have elected not to be authorised for investment business by the FCA. The business carried out by such firms is restricted in scope and must be incidental or purely complementary to the professional services provided by the firm. Such firms are not directly regulated by the FCA, but by the relevant Designated Professional Body (Law Society or Institute/Association of Chartered Accountants or the Institute of Actuaries). These Designated Professional Bodies are themselves in turn accountable to the FCA in relation to the investment business carried out by the firms they regulate. | Back to Note 1

The following sections detail how to make a complaint or enquiry to the Exchange, relating to potentially abusive behaviour on one of our markets and/or compliance with the obligations or provisions set out in the Exchange’s rulebooks, namely:

• Rules of the London Stock Exchange (PDF)
• Admission and Disclosure Standards (PDF)
• AIM Rules for Companies (PDF)
• AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers (PDF)
• International Securities Market Rulebook (PDF)

Please note that if the substance of your complaint or enquiry relates to matters outside of the Exchange’s remit, you should direct this to other relevant regulators and/or law enforcement agencies that may have remit to consider the matter (see ’Types of complaints or enquiries that are outside of the Exchange’s remit’ section below), as the circumstances require, so that consideration of your complaint or enquiry is undertaken by the authority that has the most appropriate investigation and enforcement powers.

If your complaint or enquiry relates to matters outside of the Exchange’s remit, we will be unable to assist you. However, as appropriate, the Exchange works with other regulators and law enforcement agencies to ensure that consideration of a matter is undertaken by the relevant authority with the appropriate investigatory and enforcement powers. In such circumstances, we may direct your complaint or enquiry to a more appropriate regulator or law enforcement agency or provide you with details so that you can contact them directly.

Details of other relevant regulators and law enforcement agencies that may have remit to consider your complaint or enquiry are set out below.

Financial Conduct Authority

The FCA is the competent authority in the UK with remit in respect of companies listed on the Main Market and compliance with the Market Abuse Regulation, Listing Rules, Prospectus Regulation Rules, and Disclosure, Guidance and Transparency Rules. From a secondary market perspective (i.e., in respect of the trading of instruments in the secondary market), the FCA has both civil and criminal powers available to identify and prevent market abuse, and will also work with other law enforcement agencies to combat this.

For primary market issues, you can contact the FCA using the FCA primary market contact form, and for secondary market issues using the FCA secondary market contact webform. In either instance, the FCA can be contacted by post at Market Oversight Department, Financial Conduct Authority, 12 Endeavour Square, London, E20 1JN.

The FCA also operates a whistleblowing procedure.

The Panel on Takeovers and Mergers

The Takeover Panel is responsible for issuing and administering the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Code”) and supervising and regulating matters to which the Code applies. The Takeover Panel can be contacted directly via email at supportgroup@thetakeoverpanel.org.uk, or by post to The Takeover Panel, One Angel Court, London, EC2R 7HJ.

Report Fraud and Serious Fraud Office

The investigation of alleged fraud or bribery and corruption falls within the remit of UK law enforcement agencies, and can be reported directly to Report Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud which is responsible for subsequent referrals to a relevant law enforcement agency. Reports of fraud or bribery and corruption to the UK’s Serious Fraud Office can also be made here.

Financial Reporting Council (FRC)

If you have a complaint about an accountant or actuary, the auditor of a company (or an individual audit), a professional accountancy or actuarial body, or a company’s accounts, your complaint or enquiry may be suitable for consideration by the FRC. Further details about the FRC’s remit can be found on the FRC Make a complaint page.

Financial Ombudsman Service

If you have a complaint about a UK-based business providing financial services, your complaint or enquiry may be suitable for consideration by the FOS.

Further details can be found on the Financial Ombudsman Service How to complain page.

Types of complaints or enquiries that are outside of the Exchange’s remit include:

• Complaints about the management or performance of a company.
• The provision of investment advice, and terms of takeover offers.
• Complaints or enquiries regarding the trading activities of member firms, in relation to events which occurred more than five years ago. This is because, under the Exchange’s rules, member firms are not required to keep transaction records for more than five years. The Exchange is therefore normally unable to investigate events which occurred before that time.
• Disputes which are subject to ongoing litigation or are pending before the courts.
• Disputes with companies or securities firms: if your complaint relates to a dispute between you and a company or an investment firm, in the first instance, you should seek to resolve any dispute directly with the firm. In the case of a company listed on one of the Exchange’s markets, the appropriate contact for correspondence is, ordinarily, the Company Secretary, and for a member firm it is the Compliance Officer, or the Complaints contact listed on the FCA’s Financial Services Register. Every firm authorised to carry out investment business must have at least one designated Compliance Officer.
• With minor exceptions [Note 2] any complaint and/or dispute in relation to your relationship with a member firm of the Exchange, which has not been resolved following contact with the firm's Compliance Officer, should be addressed to the FOS via the Financial Ombudsman Service How to complain page.
• Authorisation status of investment firms: if you wish to check the authorisation status of an investment firm, you may wish to consult the FCA Financial Services Register, which maintains a central register of authorised investment businesses. The FCA can be contacted on the consumer helpline: 0800 111 6768.
• Registers of companies’ shareholdings: a company’s register of shareholdings is maintained by the registrar, which may be either an office within the company itself, or an external independent firm acting for the company. The registrar may also act as an agent for the company in relation to the payment of dividends and mailing of documentation. You should contact the registrar in the first instance, and thereafter the Company Secretary of the company concerned, if:
  1. you are dissatisfied with the services provided by a company registrar. Please note that registrars are not regulated by the Exchange or otherwise subject to regulation within the scope of the FSMA;
  2. you have not received a share certificate following a subscription to, or allocation in, a new issue of shares. Please note that the Exchange has no jurisdiction in respect of the timely dispatch of share certificates, nor any powers of intervention or arbitration in the allocation of shares in a new issue.

[2] The exceptions refer to business carried out by solicitors, accountants and actuaries not authorised by the FCA. In these cases complaints should be addressed to the firm’s Designated Professional Body | Back to Note 2 (see also footnote to 'Overview of the general regulatory framework' section above). [Note 1]

The Exchange considers all complaints and enquiries that fall within its remit. Where appropriate, it may take further action for identified failures of compliance with our rulebooks including, but not limited to, disciplinary action in accordance with our rules. The Exchange’s complaints and enquiries handling process, and its disciplinary remit, is not compensatory in nature or purpose.

Complaints or enquiries that fall within the Exchange’s remit to consider will be reviewed by the relevant team in the first instance, and the Exchange will seek to provide any response to a complaint or enquiry promptly. If it is anticipated that it may take longer to respond to your complaint or enquiry, for example because information needs to be requested from another party, an acknowledgement may be sent prior to a substantive response.

Confidentiality and provision of updates

Given the confidential and potentially price sensitive nature of any enquiries or investigation the Exchange may undertake as a result of your complaint or enquiry, the Exchange is unable to discuss specific matters or provide updates. Where an investigation does lead to a determination that there has been a breach of our rules, we may take disciplinary or other action, as appropriate to the circumstances. There are a range of disciplinary sanctions available, and the Exchange is able to publish the outcome of disciplinary actions for the purposes of education and changing market behaviour. Examples of published disciplinary sanctions against AIM companies and nominated advisers, and member firms, can be found in AIM Disciplinary Notices and in London Stock Exchange Notices.