Companies with an interest in the CREST share registrar services of London Registrars may also read with interest the news of the launch of a market consultation by the London-based stock exchange, ICAP Securities & Derivatives Exchange (ISDX). It concerns potential changes to the ISDX Growth Market Rules for Issuers and the ISDX Corporate Adviser Handbook.

The Exchange, which provides companies in the UK and abroad with access to European capital through a range of fully listed and growth markets, said that it was committed to providing a SME primary market offering that catered for issuers’ needs and requirements. However, it also affirmed its priority of “filtering out applicants that pose an unacceptable degree of risk or threaten the Exchange’s regulatory obligations.”

In a statement, ISDX said that it had conducted discussions with market participants, followed by a review of the Rules to ensure their fitness for purpose for a SME Growth Market. It added that it sought “to realign the criteria in respect of companies seeking admission and to make the standards and requirements more appropriate for companies seeking admission to a SME Growth Market.”

Both issuers and their ISDX Corporate Advisers will be subject to the proposed new rules, irrespective of whether they seek to admit securities or already have securities admitted to trading on the ISDX Growth Market.

In practice, the existing rules have seen the removal of the ‘eligibility matrix’, with the proposed admission criteria instead demanding that issuers have a minimum one year trading history, together with a 10 per cent free-float of shares. There will also be an expectation of one year’s working capital.

Concurrently, there is an ISDX proposal to amend the due diligence regime for ISDX Corporate Advisers, which would involve the prescriptive elements related to due diligence being removed from the Corporate Adviser Handbook and replaced with a practice note for Due Diligence.

Interested parties are encouraged to read the clean and marked-up versions of the draft Rules on the ISDX website at http://www.isdx.com/regulation/consultations.aspx, directing any responses to [email protected] by 20 February 2015.