The Professional Securities Market (PSM) was established by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the London Stock Exchange (LSE). PSM is not a UK regulated market. 

In practical terms, this means that the FCA must still approve any prospectus or listing particulars, and that regulatory information must be filed with the FCA.

PSM com­pan­ies are required to comply with the:

• London Stock Exchange’s Admission and Disclosure Standards; and
• relevant provisions of the Listing Rules (LR), and (where applicable) the Prospectus Regulation, the PR Regulation and Prospectus Regulation Rules (PRR).

The PSM was set up in the mid 2000s as a market where regulation was still by the FCA (in its role as the UK listing authority under Part VI Financial Services and Markets Act 2000) rather than solely by the LSE but without the need to adopt IFRS (or an equivalent GAAP) or prepare interim reports. It was primarily aimed at established wholesale debt issuers. Its role in recent years has been overtaken by the LSE’s newer International Securities Market.

Financial reporting requirements

PSM companies must prepare an annual report within six months of the year end as set out in Listing Rule 17.3  (link to FCA hand­book) in ac­cord­ance with IFRS Accounting Standards as adopted in the UK or the rel­ev­ant na­tional GAAP. One of the ad­vant­ages for UK com­pan­ies is there­fore that they can raise bond finance whilst still pre­par­ing UK GAAP fin­an­cial state­ments.

PSM debt issuers are exempt from half-yearly reports and other requirements of DTR 4 and DTR 7.