Why We’ve Written to the Chancellor
The Public Offers and Admissions to Trading Regulations (POATRs) are a pivotal moment for UK capital markets, creating the conditions for transformational change. RetailBook - alongside the CEOs of AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdown and interactive investor - has issued a joint open letter to the Chancellor, emphasising a commitment to ensure these reforms are fully realised in practice.
The Open Letter
Download the full letter (PDF)
Open letter to: The Chancellor of the Exchequer
cc: Economic Secretary to the Treasury; CEO and Deputy CEO, Financial Conduct Authority; CEO, Deputy CEO, London Stock Exchange; CEO, UK Debt Management Office; CEO, British Business Bank; Policy Chairman, City of London Corporation; Lady Mayor, Dame Susan Langley
Date: Official Publication 15th Jan 26
Subject: A Milestone for UK Capital Markets
Dear Chancellor,
With the Public Offers and Admissions to Trading regime (POATR) about to come fully into force alongside the publication of the FCA’s PRM rules, the UK has taken a decisive step toward widening investor participation and reducing friction in home grown fundraising. These reforms create a framework that is simpler, faster, and more inclusive, positioning the UK as the place for companies to start, stay, and scale.
This is not just regulatory change; it is an opportunity to turn policy into practice. Retail investors represent a deep and committed pool of capital, ready to stand alongside institutions in supporting companies that power Britain’s growth. When individuals and institutions invest in primary capital transactions, they fund innovation, jobs and productivity, strengthening the UK economy from the ground up, across all regions.
We welcome this milestone and affirm our readiness to deliver in support of unlocking growth across the UK.
Aligned with the Government’s retail investment ambitions and industrial strategy pillars, we share the ambition to:
- Empower individuals on their investing and wealth journey, making participation intuitive and inclusive; and
- Enable retail investors to support productive capital, backing UK businesses and regional growth.
UK public companies drive opportunity and growth across every region, ensuring that capital raised fuels jobs and innovation nationwide, helping entrepreneurs and growth companies in sectors central to the UK’s industrial strategy, from technology and life sciences to clean energy, access the funding they need to innovate and scale.
To ensure the success of the Government’s retail investment agenda, it is critical that the industry adopt the following:
- Normalise “Retail-Inclusive” IPOs and Plain Vanilla Listed Bonds (PVLBs): With the POATR now reducing the mandatory prospectus availability period from six days to three business days, and the introduction of PVLB regime, the execution risk to include Retail Investors has been eliminated. We call for a market standard where all UK IPOs and PVLB’s include a retail tranche by default;
- Adoption of the PEG ‘Retail Standard’: We encourage all UK issuers to utilise the updated Pre-Emption Group (PEG) guidelines, which support a retail follow-on offer of up to 20% of the size of any institutional placing with a disclosure of the consideration given to retail investor participation; and
- Normalise “Retail-Inclusive” follow-on raises: With the new POATR regime raising the prospectus threshold for secondary raises, the technical barriers to inclusive fundraising have been removed. We now call on the investment banking and advisory community to normalise the inclusion of a retail tranche in all follow-on raises.
We ask the New Listings Taskforce in conjunction with the Regulator to:
- Publish periodic statistics on retail inclusion for IPOs, follow-on fundraises, and PVLB’s to ensure ongoing transparency; and
- Spearhead a “Joint Statement of Support” designed to standardise retail inclusion practices across all forms of public issuance.
Our collective commitment is to build on this regulatory milestone by turning POATR from policy into practice, enabling retail participation in IPOs, follow-ons, Treasury Bills and PVLBs.
Signatories
- James Deal, Co-CEO, RetailBook
- Richard Flint, CEO, Hargreaves Lansdown
- Michael Summersgill, CEO, AJ Bell
- Richard Wilson, CEO, ii
This letter is authored by RetailBook in collaboration with leading industry participants to signal readiness for the next chapter of UK capital markets.
Contact
For press and government relations enquiries:
Stacey Parsons, Managing Director, RetailBook
Stacey.Parsons@retailbook.com
Learn More
To understand how the POATR reforms transform retail investor participation, read our detailed analysis: January 2026: Transforming Retail Investor Participation.
