PISCES is a new type of platform where shares in private companies can be traded. Access will be open to those including HNW individuals. Private market investment remains a hot topic in wealth management – as are access and liquidity.

The UK is launching a “new type” of private stock market later in 2025, as the country seeks to exploit rising demand for investment access into non-publicly traded firms.

The Financial Conduct Authority, the UK regulator, has announced final rules for its Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System, aka PISCES. 

PISCES is a new type of platform where shares in private companies can be traded, the FCA said in a statement yesterday. 

“As companies choose to stay private for longer, there is demand for investors to trade private company shares easily and efficiently in an organised marketplace. PISCES meets this demand by allowing secondary trading of these shares. Companies can set the floor and ceiling of share prices and have a say over who can buy their shares,” the regulator said. 

Access to PISCES will be limited to institutional investors, high net worth individuals, sophisticated investors and employees of participating companies. Investors will be provided with information about the risks involved to help them make informed decisions, the FCA continued. 

With private market investing remaining a hot wealth management topic, reflecting a secular shift away from listed markets in much of the West, a need for owners of private firms to buy or sell efficiently is more significant. The sale of a private firm, for example, is typically an important liquidity event that private banks and wealth advisors will want to track. 

“This bold design rebalances risk, but it is bold risk taking that made the UK the leading financial centre it is today. The new platforms will give investors greater access and confidence to invest in exciting new companies, while early backers and employees can sell up and invest again,” Simon Walls, executive director of markets at the FCA, said. “PISCES is the latest step in the FCA’s wide-ranging reforms to the UK’s markets to boost growth and competitiveness.”  

The FCA is acting at a time when the government has been looking at how to refresh the listings regime in the UK’s stock market, concerned that the City of London is losing business to rival bourses, such as the New York Stock Exchange. For example, drug maker Invidior last week said it will abandon its London listing and focus on the US. UK fintech Wise, the money transfer firm, has said it would be shifting its primary listing out of London and into the US.

Platforms supporting stakes in privately held firms already exist. For example, the International Stock Exchange (TISE) in Guernsey is one such example and was interviewed by WealthBriefing in January 2024.

“PISCES is a great example of industry, regulators and the government working together to go further and faster on innovative reforms to strengthen UK capital markets, supporting economic growth and putting more money in people’s pocket as part of our Plan for Change,” Emma Reynolds, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, said. 

“I welcome the FCA's announcement, which follows our legislation and opens PISCES to industry. This also builds on our announcements on a Stamp Taxes on Shares exemption for PISCES transactions, and on employees retaining the tax advantages on eligible shares traded,” Reynolds said.

Sandbox, reactions
The FCA said the platform will be delivered through a "sandbox" testing space, which will allow the FCA to test the design before finalising a permanent regime in 2030. The sandbox is now open, with shares likely to be traded later this year. Trading systems could include periodic auctions, as well as occasional and time-limited periods of continuous trading. 

“Today, the UK has taken a big step towards unleashing billions in investment with the FCA publishing the final PISCES rules and opening applications to its world-class regulatory sandbox," Myles Milston, CEO and co-founder at Globacap, an automated capital markets platform regulated in the UK, said. 

“PISCES is a major win for high-growth UK firms, investors and the country’s economy. It will enable UK firms to access the capital they need while remaining private and avoiding the headache of an IPO. Investors will be able to deploy capital into dynamic, fast-growing UK firms and reap the returns.

“Globacap intends to apply to the PISCES sandbox at the earliest opportunity with the aim of launching a PISCES venue in the near future that will help shape the future of UK capital markets," Milston added.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "The establishment of the PICSES exchange is part of the government’s drive to put a rocket under Britain’s capital markets and support more scale up companies. PISCES aims to help turn minnows into much bigger fish, supporting the London market overall. This new type of trading platform will enable intermittent trading of private company shares using market infrastructure.

"It’s clear that the London Stock Exchange wants a slice of the private market and is keen on supporting founders wanting to scale up without some of the pressure public markets can impose, with numbers scrutinised every quarter. The PICSES could help create a more free-flowing pipeline for IPOs in the City and it could also help with price discovery for valuations. It comes as the City is struggling to attract and retain listed companies, so the hope will be that this will offer greater support for home-grown startups and scaleups.

"The plan is for companies which offer sharesave schemes for employees to get involved, enabling staff of participating firms to sell their stakes through the exchange. There is potential for PISCES to support greater retail access in the longer term to allow for retail clients to sell shares they hold in other private companies. Although this won’t happen quickly, with a time frame of five years or more, it could provide an opportunity to level the playing field between retail investors and institutional investors," Streeter added.