Thursday November 6 2025
News Source: Global Disclosures
Focus: Short Selling
Type: General
Country: UK
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has opened a consultation paper CP25/29 on 28th October 2025, in response to Treasury’s Short Selling Regulation: Call for Evidence, which proposes major updates to the UK short selling regime. These reforms are not intended to fundamentally change the current regime, although they aim to make the framework simpler, more efficient, and more competitive, while maintaining market integrity and transparency.
Key Proposed Changes / Consultation Open Discussion:
The existing regime requires persons to report Net Short Positions (NSPs) to the FCA when they reach, exceed above, or fall below 0.2% of a company’s issued share capital, and at subsequent 0.1% increments. The proposed changes aim to simplify the reporting process without altering the core framework or thresholds.
| Area of Change | Current Regime (UK SSR) | Proposed Requirement (SSR 2025) |
| Reporting Deadline | No later than 15:30 on the trading day following the trading day (T+1). | Extended to 23:59 on the working day following the working day (T+1). |
| List content | FCA publishes the UK List of Exempted Shares, which identifies shares admitted to trading on UK venues that are exempt from reporting and covering requirements | FCA replaces this with the Reportable Shares List (RSL), which identifies admitted shares to which position reporting and covering requirements |
| Market Maker exemptions | New market makers must notify the FCA at least 30 calendar days before using the exemption and notifications are submitted via manual email process. | Notification period for new market makers reduced to 15 calendar days and the FCA proposed to introduce electronic submission system replacing manual process. |
| Public Short Positions Disclosure | Net Short Positions (NSPs) held by individual position holders were identified and publicly disclosed when they reached or exceeded 0.5% of a company’s issued share capital. | Individual Net Short Positions (NSPs) reported to the FCA will remain anonymous. In contrast, Aggregate Net Short Positions (ANSPs) will be calculated and published as a single figure for each company. This aggregate represents the combined total of all NSPs above the 0.2% reporting threshold. |
| Calculation Time | NSPs must be calculated as of midnight at the end of the trading day (T). | The calculation must still use data as of midnight (T), but the new guidance clarifies that the mechanical calculation can be performed any time before submission. |
| Financial Instruments Scope | It was unclear (especially, article 6- short positions) whether the list of instruments (such as options, futures, etc.) used for the calculation was intended to be exhaustive. | It has been clarified that the list of specified financial instruments used to calculate long, and short positions is exhaustive. |
| Issued Share Capital | No centralized source for determining issued share capital. | Persons must act reasonably having regard to publicly available information (readily accessible and free of charge), such as filings at Companies House or DTR 5.6.1R disclosures. |
| Group & Legal Entity Reporting (Cease Notification) | When a group’s NSP falls below the base notification threshold (0.2%), the group reports this change first. However, constituent legal entities report their individual NSPs on the trading day following the group’s notification, if they exceed the threshold. | When a group NSP falls below 0.2%, constituent legal entities must report their individual NSPs (if required) on the same working day the group reports the position falling below the threshold. |
| Group & Legal Entity Reporting (Initial Notification) | The current regime specifies that constituent legal entities should report their individual NSPs only when the group NSP is below the base notification threshold.
However, there is no guidance on what these entities should do if the group’s NSP later reaches the threshold while they still hold outstanding NSPs above it. |
The proposal is that both the group and its constituent entities should renotify on the same working day, providing updated information so that the FCA can exclude duplicate positions from ANSP calculations. This ensures accuracy and prevents overstatement of short positions |
The consultation closes on 16th December 2025, and respondents can submit their feedback to the FCA either by completing the FCA form or by emailing cp25-29@fca.org.uk.