On February 15, 2017, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published a Discussion Paper (DP17/2) seeking feedback on how the UK primary capital markets can most effectively meet the needs of issuers and investors. In particular, the FCA is interested in views on:

• the appropriateness of the boundary between the standard and premium listing categories, particularly in relation to non-UK issuers and exchange-traded funds (“ETFs”);
• the effectiveness of the current regime in supporting early stage science and technology companies; and

measures to support greater retail participation in debt markets and a role for a UK primary debt multilateral trading facility (“MTF”).