LSE Rejects Suggestion That Increased Regulation Has Reduced Listings

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

16 September 2005

Responding to a recently released KPMG report which suggested that many of Europe's listed businesses view the current regulatory burden as unacceptable, the London Stock Exchange this week sought to play down fears that increasing regulation is driving businesses to reconsider public listings.

The KPMG report, entitled 'The Pressure of Regulation on Business', suggested that there was now an imbalance between measures to ensure investor protection and those to ensure profit delivery, and that a period of consolidation should be considered before any new corporate governance rules are introduced.

However, according to Accountancy Age, a spokesman for the LSE this week revealed that the Exchange's turnover for the first quarter of the current financial year increased by 13% to £67.7m, and suggested that there were no indications that tighter regulations were having an effect on the Exchange's business.

"We are eager to maintain our competitiveness, but I don't think we have been compromised considering the successful number of listings over the past year," he told the news service.

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