PS26/5: UK Short Selling Regime Finalized, Effective 13 July 2026

PS26/5: Changes to the UK Short Selling Regime

Consultation Paper (CP25/29) 28/10/2025 Consultation closed 16/12/2025 Policy Statement (PS26/5) 16/04/2026 16/04/2026

Policy statements First published:

16/04/2026

Last updated: 16/04/2026
We have finalised our new rules and guidance for short selling activity.

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Read PS26/5

Read our operational guide

What we are changing

In this Policy Statement (PS26/5), we summarise and respond to the feedback received on our proposals in CP25/29: Changes to the UK Short Selling Regime. It includes our final short selling rules, Statement of Policy on the use of our emergency powers, and operational details on how and when our new rules will come into force.

Our final rules implement the changes made in the Short Selling Regulations 2025 (SSR 2025), and make further changes to create a more efficient, effective, and coherent short selling regime to maintain the orderly and effective functioning of UK markets, while removing disproportionate costs.

We are creating a new Sourcebook for our short selling rules, within the FCA Handbook, to largely replicate existing provisions from the current regime. In addition, our 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.

From 13 July 2026, existing exemptions for market making in UK sovereign debt will no longer apply. However, our emergency powers will continue to cover these financial instruments.

Position reporting

We are extending the deadline for reporting net short positions to 23.59 T+1. We are also issuing new guidance on the provision of issued share capital, group‑level reporting arrangements, and updates to the notification templates. See PS26/5 page 11.

Covering requirements

We are formalising the requirement for firms to keep records of their covering arrangements for 5 years. See PS26/5 page 23.

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, we’ve published a test copy of the reportable shares list in CSV and XLSX formats. See PS26/5 page 27.

Market maker exemption (MME)

We are streamlining the notification process for market maker exemptions. The notification will become activity-based, removing the requirement for market makers to send further notifications to add financial instruments to their exemption.

Market makers will instead be required to provide an annual attestation.

Transitional provisions also require market makers to renotify us of their existing exemptions. See PS26/5 page 34.

Aggregate net short positions (ANSPs)

From 13 July 2026, we’ll publish ANSPs by company, aggregating the individual net short positions reported at or above the 0.2% threshold without identifying individual position holders. See PS26/5 page 43.

Emergency powers

We retain emergency powers to prohibit, restrict, and impose additional requirements on short selling in exceptional circumstances.

We set a high bar for the use of our emergency powers, which we would only consider using in exceptional market conditions.

Our Statement of Policy details the circumstances under which we may exercise our powers. See PS26/5 page 59.

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Who this is for

PS26/5, our final short selling rules, and the Statement of Policy, will interest:

• Anyone conducting short selling activity.
• Market makers.
• Securities lenders.
• Market data providers.
• Companies with shares admitted to trading on UK trading venues, and their shareholders.
• Law firms, consultants, and trade associations, with an interest in short selling.

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Next steps

Our short selling rules will come into force on Monday 13 July 2026.

To allow sufficient time to implement the new regime alongside operational changes, we will implement in 2 phases:

Phase 1 will take effect on the main commencement day, Monday 13 July 2026. This includes:

• The implementation of the new short selling rules and our final Statement of Policy.
• Changes to our systems to facilitate the disclosure of new ANSPs.

• The reportable shares list.
  Phase 2 will take effect on Monday 30 November 2026. This includes:

• An update to the system for position reporting to facilitate persons uploading and submitting multiple positions in a single ‘bulk submission’.

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Supporting operational documentation

We have produced an ‘ operational guide ’ to provide more detailed information on the operational changes required and the timeframe for implementation.

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Background

The UK Short Selling Regulation (UK SSR) is assimilated EU law, incorporated into UK law by the European Union (Withdrawal Act) 2018. This forms the basis of the UK short selling regime.

The UK SSR sets out requirements for short selling activity in financial instruments admitted to trading on UK trading venues. This includes shares, UK sovereign debt, and UK sovereign CDS.

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 sets out the legal framework for repealing and replacing assimilated law. As part of this process, the Treasury made the SSR 2025, in January 2025, to establish a new legislative framework for the regulation of short selling. This gave us rulemaking, supervisory, and enforcement powers. It also broadly replicates our current emergency powers.

Our proposals in CP25/29 were based on feedback from the Treasury’s Short Selling Regulation: Call for Evidence. This concluded that it wasn’t necessary to fundamentally change the current short selling regime, although it should be modified to remove disproportionate burdens, on firms, that may inhibit or discourage short selling and its associated benefits.

Page updates

16/04/2026

: Publication added PS26/5 published, page updated

05/01/2026

: Information changed Consultation closed Was this page useful? Yes No What can we do to improve pages like this? What did you find helpful? Submit Feedback

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