‘We’re still bigger than Paris’: Julia Hoggett, boss of the London Stock Exchange, fights for the city
The boss of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) said the value dwarfed Paris at £1 trillion as she fought for the city.
Julia Hoggett told MPs she was “intensely optimistic” about Britain’s strengths as she cited figures compiled by the LSE showing London-listed shares were worth £5 trillion, compared to £3.9 trillion for Paris, its closest European rival.
The figures make a mockery of claims that France’s Euronext exchange is outsmarting the LSE.
And she said London was back to number one in Europe in terms of capital raising in recent weeks, after falling below Paris.
Hoggett gave testimony to MPs amid self-examination in the City and Whitehall on why Britain is seeing an exodus of listed companies. In a further setback, Cambridge chip designer Arm has opted to list in the US.
Confident: LSE boss Julia Hoggett (pictured) said she was ‘intensely optimistic’ as she cited figures showing London-listed shares were worth £5 trillion, compared to £3.9 trillion for Paris
Appearing from the city along with Hoggett and other bigwigs, Sir Jonathan Symonds, chairman of pharma giant GSK, said the ‘scales are disappointing’ in the UK.
Hoggett said some of the rules governing the stock market are “stuck in aspic,” but supported reforms agreed upon by the city regulator and government to try to revive the market’s fortunes.
“We are the largest stock exchange in Europe – we are a trillion dollars bigger than France and in recent weeks we have reclaimed our place as the leading capital raising jurisdiction in Europe.”
Hoggett praised the UK’s “remarkable” strength in creating more “unicorns” — start-ups worth $1 billion or more — than anywhere but the US, China and India.
“If we can match our strength in the capital market with that ability, think about what we can do,” she said.
“So I’m intensely optimistic about it, but I’m not ignorant or unafraid of the hard work it takes.”