Brokers team up on new platform to boost retail investment in UK capital markets

Rothschild & Co SCA

02/02/2023 07:39

LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Investment firms and brokers
in Britain teamed up on Thursday to back a new standalone retail
platform to strengthen the role of small investors in the UK
capital market.
    Peel Hunt's REX distribution platform will become a
standalone business in the second half of 2023 and known as
RetailBook, the company said in a statement.
    Jefferies, Numis and Rothschild & Co will enter into
collaboration agreements with the platform with the right to buy
stakes, the companies said in a statement.
    Hargreaves Lansdown will enter into exclusivity agreement in
relation to follow-on equity fundraisings, the statement added.
    Britain is reforming its financial rules post-Brexit and is
looking to copy the much deeper, broader culture of retail
investment evident in the United States.
    One aim is to make it easier for retail investors to
participate in capital markets, a step the European Union is
also working on.
 (Reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Sinead Cruise)
 ((huw.jones@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 3326; Reuters
Messaging: huw.jones.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))