Cees Vermaas, CEO of The International Stock Exchange (TISE), is among leading industry figures who have questioned the viability of the UK Government’s proposed new system for trading shares in private companies in an article from the Financial Times.

Co-authored by Financial Regulation Editor, Martin Arnold, the article noted that the introduction of the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) was proposed by the previous Conservative government and is being back by Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

The London Stock Exchange Group is one of the organisations planning to operate a trading venue under the PISCES framework.

“PISCES is not much more than a new version of AIM"

Private equity and venture capital executives have questioned the demand for the system, not least because leaders of fast growing companies would be reluctant to risk losing control over who owns a stake in the business. 

It noted that TISE already has a service for companies to run auctions of their own shares without a broker. It is called TISE Private Markets.

CEO Cees Vermaas told the FT: “We are sceptical that the rules [for PISCES] go far enough to make it a success, because companies will still have disclosure requirements” and that “they will have many of the costs of a full listing.”

The PISCES model proposes using many of the traditional public market infrastructure features, including brokers who will take commissions from both buyers and sellers on their share trading. 

“PISCES is not much more than a new version of AIM,” he said, referring to London’s struggling junior stock market. 

The article was originally published in the Financial Times on 26 February 2025 and is available in full from the FT website here.