RCS - PrimaryBid Limited - PrimaryBid appoints Stacey Parsons

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09/11/2023 09:15

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RNS Number : 8464S  PrimaryBid Limited  09 November 2023

Investor inclusion champion Stacey Parsons joins PrimaryBid

 

London, 9 November 2023. In a significant move to advance investor inclusion
in company fundraisings and fixed income investment products, capital markets
technology firm PrimaryBid announces the appointment of Stacey Parsons as
Managing Director and Head of Fixed Income.

 

Parsons' appointment will accelerate PrimaryBid's efforts to unlock investor
access to high-quality corporate debt and sovereign issuance, leveraging its
technology infrastructure and building upon its strategic partnerships and the
investor advocacy initiatives PrimaryBid has spearheaded in the UK and EU.

 

With over 25 years' industry experience, including significant time as a
retail gilt-edged market maker (GEMM), Parsons also serves as the founder and
Chair of the Investor Access to Regulated Bonds working group (IARB) and is a
member of London Stock Exchange Group's Primary Markets Group. She was
previously Head of Fixed Income Strategy at Winterflood Securities.

 

This appointment comes at a critical juncture in UK's capital markets reforms
as policy makers seek to enable and encourage wider investor participation in
public regulated markets. The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently
highlighted that debt regulation designed to protect investors had
'unintentionally exclude d  smaller scale participants from the best
products'.(( 1  (#_ftn1) )) Only 1% of current regulated UK debt issuance is
accessible to retail, even though debt sits higher in the capital structure to
equity. The FCA is currently consulting on reforms in this area to be enacted
in 2024.

 

Stacey Parsons, incoming Head of Fixed Income at PrimaryBid, said:

 

"Debt capital markets remain largely inaccessible to UK retail investors and
wealth intermediaries in the UK. However, imminent changes in regulation will
bring the UK in line with other regions where we have seen an extraordinary
take up of direct ownership of sovereign and corporate debt. These reforms
will allow issuers to engage retail capital and offer new listed investment
opportunities for investors.

 

"PrimaryBid has demonstrated how an innovative platform can deliver
fundamental industry change by combining smart client solutions through
technology and deep industry partnerships. I'm delighted to be joining such a
fantastic team, to champion this investor inclusion and financial literacy
agenda in debt capital markets."

 

Anand Sambasivan, CEO of PrimaryBid, added:

 

"We are thrilled to welcome Stacey to PrimaryBid. She brings in-depth sector
knowledge, an unrivalled track-record, and superb leadership credentials. At
PrimaryBid we are committed to delivering more inclusive capital markets that
work for everyone. Stacey's appointment will be pivotal in helping us achieve
this goal.

 

"Our infrastructure has turned the historical challenges of including
individuals and communities into opportunities, leveraging new technology and
partnerships to make investor inclusion not just feasible but seamless and
strategic."

 

Media enquiries:

 

Mike Coombes | mike.coombes@primarybid.com
(mailto:mike.coombes@primarybid.com)

Mark Dixon | mark.dixon@primarybid.com (mailto:mark.dixon@primarybid.com)

 

-x-

 

Notes to editors:

 

1.   PrimaryBid is a regulated capital markets technology platform unlocking
access to bonds, gilts, IPOs,  follow-on raises and other instruments to
individual retail investors, improving capital formation and driving fairness
into public markets. A partner of London Stock Exchange and Euronext,
PrimaryBid's platform is host to hundreds of thousands of UK and European
retail investors. In the UK, PrimaryBid has been used by over 350 FTSE and AIM
companies. In February 2022, PrimaryBid announced a $190m Series C investment
round, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 to drive international expansion.

 

2.   In an environment of rising interest rates and inflation, access to
retail fixed income products is increasingly important to everyday investors.
They are seeking yield and income, and are also sitting on a huge pool of
capital with over £300bn uninvested in cash ISAs. While fixed income
investing is not totally alien to retail investors, it is a particularly
undeveloped market in the UK with options such as NS&I investments being
capacity limited.

 

3.   The types of corporate debt that the public can invest in has altered
radically - in 2004, UK investors could readily access investment
opportunities in a number of sterling denominated FTSE household names from as
little as £1,000. These included HBOS, Bupa, Aviva, Abrdn, RSA, Taylor Wimpey
and Hammerson. However, the current UK Prospectus regime requires more
disclosure for issuances of non-equity  fixed-income  securities with a
denomination per unit below €100,000, with an alternative 'wholesale'
disclosure regime for issuances above this level. Few UK corporates now issue
outside the wholesale regime.

 

4.   Given the FCA's ambition to reduce by 20% the number of individuals
holding £10k+ in liquid assets by 2025, there's an emphasis on promoting
'safe' investment opportunities that channel these assets into regulated
investments.

(( 1  (#_ftnref1) )) Source: Financial Conduct Authority, May 2023 Engagement
Paper 4 "Non equity securities", p8

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