Navigating the PISCES Regulatory Framework - Rules, Risks & Opportunities

Introduction

The Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) operates within the FCA’s regulatory sandbox and opens the door to intermittent secondary trading of private company shares. With HM Treasury set to review the system and report to Parliament by June 2030, the next five years will determine whether PISCES becomes a permanent part of the UK’s financial landscape.

Under this framework, PISCES operators will run their own trading platforms for private company shares, each governed by bespoke rulebooks approved by the FCA. The FCA’s new PISCES Sourcebook (PS) sets out detailed requirements. As of November 2025, only the London Stock Exchange Group has been authorised as a PISCES operator, launching its Private Securities Market (PSM) and publishing the PSM Rules in August 2025.

For legal, corporate, and advisory professionals, understanding these developments is essential. This webinar will demystify the regulatory landscape for PISCES and the LSE’s PSM, highlight the FCA’s key rules and explore related stamp duty and employee share scheme tax implications. The session will also conclude with a SWOT analysis of PISCES to help you evaluate its practical impact and strategic potential.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• Regulatory Framework
• The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 (Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System Sandbox) Regulations 2025 (Pisces Regs)
• FCA Sandbox - Pisces Sourcebook and related amends to FCA Handbook
• Pisces Operator rulebooks; currently only the LSEG’s PSM Rules
• Interaction of participants in a Pisces platform
• Pisces Operator
• Eligibility and approval process
• Responsibilities under Pisces Sourcebook and Pisces Reg
• Modification of statutory liability
• Structure of PSM rulebook
• FCA fees
• Financial Intermediary
• Responsibilities under Pisces Sourcebook and Pisces Reg
• Place buy and sell orders
• Checking investor eligibility
• Retail investors - appropriateness and cooling off period
• Financial promotion and risk warnings
• Fees payable to operators
• Pisces Company
• What does ‘private’ mean under Pisces Regs
• Eligibility criteria set by Operator (by reference to PSM rules)
• Preliminary restructuring requirements e.g. shareholder approval; decertification and admission of shares to CREST/Euroclear
• ‘Qualifying individuals’
• Validity of tax advantaged share schemes
• Disclosure obligations
• Pisces platform fees
• Pisces Investor
• Categories for eligibility
• Risk warning and ‘buyer beware’
• Limited rights of redress
• SWOT Analysis

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Thursday 16th April 2026

Alternatively, you can gain access to this webinar and 2,100+ others via the MBL Webinar Subscription. Please email webinarsubscription@mblseminars.com for more details.