Vestd Wins FCA Nod to Run PISCES Venue Without Intermediaries

UK equity management platform Vestd has secured Financial Conduct Authority approval to operate a Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System (PISCES) venue, becoming one of fewer than half a dozen approved operators alongside the London Stock Exchange and JP Jenkins. The approval, confirmed by the FCA on 29 April 2026, positions Vestd as the only PISCES venue planning to operate without financial intermediaries, a structural difference that could materially shift cost dynamics for buyers of private UK company shares.

PISCES, launched by the FCA in June 2025, allows private companies to host intermittent trading windows for their existing shares without committing to a full public listing. The framework targets a long-standing pain point in UK private markets: shareholders, including employees holding vested options, have historically had limited routes to monetise stakes outside of an acquisition or IPO.

What is PISCES, and why are regulators backing it?

PISCES is a regulatory sandbox-derived framework that permits secondary trading of private company shares during scheduled, company-controlled events rather than continuous order books. Companies determine when their shares trade, who can participate, and within what price parameters. The intent is to create a middle tier between fully private equity and the disclosure burden of admission to AIM or the Main Market.

The first trade under the framework occurred in March 2026, when QPLAY became the inaugural company to see its shares traded on a PISCES venue. The Vestd approval brings the count of operators publicly identified to a small group, with the FCA continuing to assess applications.

How does Vestd's venue differ from the LSE and JP Jenkins?

The defining feature of Vestd's proposition is the absence of financial intermediaries in the trading flow. Buyers will not pay broker fees on the venue, and the platform handles execution directly between parties on its existing infrastructure. By contrast, the London Stock Exchange's PISCES offering, branded as part of its broader private markets push, and JP Jenkins, which has operated matched bargain trading in unquoted securities since 1991, both rely on traditional broker-dealer involvement.

For finance professionals evaluating PISCES as an asset class, the cost structure matters. Even a 50 to 100 basis point execution saving compounds meaningfully across a private portfolio with limited natural liquidity events.

Vestd was an early participant in the FCA's PISCES sandbox, which gave the firm influence over rule design before the framework was finalised. Yaroslav Kinebas, the company's Market Infrastructure Lead, has publicly characterised the launch as a structural shift for UK investors, businesses, and employees.

What does this mean for existing Vestd customers and EMI scheme holders?

For companies already using Vestd's cap table and share scheme tools, the practical implication is a new optional liquidity route that does not require a sale or listing. Existing Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) and Company Share Option Plan (CSOP) agreements can be amended to include PISCES trading windows as a qualifying exercise event, allowing employee option holders to convert and sell during a venue event rather than waiting for an exit.

This matters because EMI is the most widely used tax-advantaged option scheme in the UK, with HMRC data showing tens of thousands of companies operating qualifying schemes. A liquidity bridge between grant and exit has been a persistent gap in the employee equity model.

Vestd's full venue rulebook is pending publication. Investors can register interest in upcoming PISCES events through the platform ahead of company-specific trading windows.

What is the broader market significance?

PISCES sits within a wider repricing of UK private market infrastructure. The London Stock Exchange's listings pipeline has thinned over recent years, with several high-profile UK companies opting for US listings or remaining private for longer. PISCES is part of the policy response, sitting alongside reforms to the listing regime and ongoing work on a consolidated tape.

If venue competition produces lower friction and broader company participation, PISCES could become a meaningful secondary market layer in the UK equity stack, narrowing the liquidity gap between late-stage private and small-cap public.

Why this matters to FinanceX readers

PISCES is one of the most consequential changes to UK private market structure in a decade, and the entry of an intermediary-free venue alters the unit economics of participating in private secondaries.

For investors, it widens access to a previously locked asset class.

For founders and CFOs, it reframes employee equity from a deferred promise into a near-term liquid instrument.

For wealth managers and platforms, it raises the question of how private secondaries are integrated into client portfolios as the infrastructure matures.

By Koen Vanderhoydonk - FinanceX Magazine