On 15 April 2026, the FCA published a Policy Statement (PS26/5) with final rules for short selling. These will create a new Sourcebook, within the FCA Handbook. The new short selling regime will apply from 13 July 2026.
The final rules make changes in the following areas:
- UK sovereign debt and UK sovereign credit default swaps: UK sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) are outside the scope of position reporting and covering requirements.
- Position reporting: The FCA is extending the deadline for reporting net short positions to 23.59 T+1.
- Covering requirements: The FCA is formalizing the requirement for firms to keep records of their covering arrangements for 5 years.
- Reportable shares list: A new reportable shares list will replace the list of exempt shares and set out the shares, admitted to trading on UK trading venues, that are subject to the short selling rules. For issuers with multiple classes of shares admitted to trading, the reportable shares list will identify the main class of ordinary shares for the purpose of reporting. To support firms’ preparation, the FCA has published a test copy of the reportable shares list in CSV and XLSX formats.
- Market Maker Exemption (MME): The notification will become activity-based, removing the requirement for market makers to send further notifications to add financial instruments to their exemption.
- Aggregate net short positions (ANSPs): From 13 July 2026, the FCA will publish ANSPs by company, aggregating the individual net short positions reported at or above the 0.2% threshold without identifying individual position holders.
- Emergency powers: The FCA will retain emergency powers to prohibit, restrict, and impose additional requirements on short selling in exceptional circumstances.
For more detailed information, click the link to the FCA’s announcement.
