Rishi Sunak mulls plans to block suspect companies listing on stock exchange
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is considering plans to block suspect companies from listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on national security grounds.
Sunak is said to be rolling out a consultation on the details over the next few weeks, following mounting pressure from MPs who fear the stock exchange is vulnerable to foreign powers, the Times reported.
It comes after a critical report from the foreign affairs committee last year claimed it was unreasonable to expect the City regulator to identify threats to national security, and urged the government to take direct responsibility.
The Commons committee said the power to block listings could be “a potentially crucial tool in limiting the influence and reach of autocracies in the UK”.
It called for the government to update the committee on new powers to check the “influence and reach” of autocratic states by May this year.
Limitations to the UK’s stock exchange rules emerged three years ago when EN+, an energy and metals company associated with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, was allowed to list on the LSE in a $1m float.
Deripaska has been accused of having close connections to Russian President Vladamir Putin, and is currently subject to US sanctions.
The Treasury is expected to set out a rulebook for blocking listings in specific scenarios, including where the government had reason to believe a foreign state was trying to undermine the LSE’s reputation or would help a hostile state access commercial and state secrets.
Tom Tugendhat, Tory MP and chair of the foreign affairs committee, said: “Britain’s markets underpin our economy and our global reach. That’s why we need to be careful who uses them. Dirty money and asset stripping have become a new form of attack on our country.”