A Regulatory Race to the Bottom?
The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority wants to relax listing conditions for state-owned issuers wishing to qualify for the London Stock Exchange Premium Listing Segment. But by offering valuable SOEs like Saudi Aramco preferential treatment, the FCA is putting institutional investors at serious risk.
DUBAI – Amid intense competition for the anticipated listing of Saudi Aramco – the world’s largest oil company, owned by the Saudi state – stock exchanges and financial-market regulators are under pressure to provide incentives for the company to dual-list its shares abroad. The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) seems to be bowing to that pressure.