Opening up the UK Bond Market to Retail Investors
A new UK retail bond market will launch on 1 February 2010. On that day the London Stock Exchange (LSE) will open an electronic trading platform offering retail investors access to an on-screen secondary market in London-listed gilts and corporate bonds. The launch follows the LSE Group’s 2007 acquisition of the Borsa Italiana which operates a highly successful retail bond market on the electronic market for bonds and government securities (MOT) and the electronic market that trades Eurobonds, bonds from foreign issuers and asset-backed securities (EuroMOT).
Lawyers
Features of the New Market
What is “Retail”?
Quite apart from the common distinction between wholesale and retail markets, “retail” is also used to denote bonds with a minimum denomination of less than €50,000, whether they are purchased by individuals or by institutions. Disclosure requirements turn on the minimum denomination, as does eligibility for the new LSE trading platform.
This article was first published in Bloomberg UK Financial Services Law Journal, February 2010 Vol 2, No 2.
