PensionBee buzzes onto London’s top market as boss calls for rules reform
The boss of fintech PensionBee has called for a swathe of reforms to London’s capital markets today in order to boost the growth of newly-listed tech companies, as the firm marks its shift onto London’s flagship exchange.
Romi Savova, who has been a player in the government’s push to boost the international profile of London’s capital markets ecosystem, said the shift to London’s main market signalled its commitment to “the highest levels of governance”.
But speaking to City PM she called for more to be done to allow smaller tech firms to list and grow.
“First and foremost, we want the UK to be the premier listing destination for companies all over the world. We want to be the best,” Savova told City PM
“That means that we need to incentivize capital, domestic and foreign capital to invest in our listed companies, and especially in our newly listed companies, and the government can achieve that through considering tax incentives for IPO funds.”
PensionBee was rolled out as a British success story to a host of big name fintechs earlier this year as ministers look to tempt more firms into floating in the UK.
Industry leaders have been pushing for further reforms to the capital markets ecosystem after a major review last year by Lord Hill last year, which ushered in a number of reforms including dual class share structures.
Savova says ministers now need to look at ways to free up sources of fresh capital and cultivate a more long-term investor mindset in the UK.
“What we need is more capital coming in from current sources, but also from different sources, and once you have that boost of capital coming in, and more direct investment in our public companies, that will change the cultural mindset of the current investment community,” she said.
PensionBee floated on the high growth section of the market last year and has been on a major customer acquisition push in the past 12 months, splashing £12.9m on advertising and marketing as it boosted customer numbers by 67 per cent and assets under management from £1.3bn to £2.7bn.
The firm’s tenure on the public markets has been mixed, however, with shares trading at a 16 per cent discount on their IPO price at market close yesterday.
Savova says she remains bullish, with the slide in share price a natural factor of a public firm’s life cycle.
“The most important thing is, is the long term and based on our delivery so far, and the fact that, you know, we continue to deliver in frankly, one of the most challenging external environments that we’ve seen within the Investment management sector.”