Today the London Stock Exchange Group reported strong half-year results that suggest it is thriving.
But an army of City critics say a new venture aimed at boosting the ability of firms to access capital is deeply flawed.
Here we offer eight questions for CEO David Schwimmer. We will include his answers when they arrive….
1) When so many companies are leaving LSE & AIM listings to go private, why does LSEG believe it is well placed to deliver a better outcome for growth companies using its new Intermittent Trading Venue (ITV)?
2) It has been rumoured that you are looking for a minimum market cap of £50m to participate in the ITV. Given that would exclude so many UK listed companies in today’s market, what sort of signal is that sending?
3) Are you abandoning AIM as not fit for purpose?
4) How many LSE & AIM listed companies do you think need to delist to give the market integrity?
5) What’s your view on EIS, SEIS and VCTs? Do they have a future in helping maintain London’s standing on the global capital markets stage?
6) What do you think innovators like Aquis or Archax can bring to the table? It’s fair to say the LSEG isn’t exactly renowned for innovating to grow, it’s more a story of acquisition, so when we have disruptive challengers in play are you encouraging them to join the fight, or looking to out manoeuvre them?
7) What are you doing to lower the cumbersome fixed costs associated with running a listing?
8) Does the LSEG risk being perceived as monopolistic given its already dominant position, its running of the Capital Markets Industry Taskforce and its close ties with cornerstone public entities ranging from the FCA to the BoE and the Treasury - despite being a private company in its own right?
