Walker’s case is a compelling one: That the much-ballyhooed competition between New York and London for IPOs and stock-market listings — which by most metrics New York is winning in a landslide — is a distraction from a more complex, multidimensional, longer-term battle.
In his telling, the world of capital is more differentiated than ever before. Companies can not only choose between London and New York, but also their own local stock exchanges (Mumbai’s IPO volume more than doubled last year compared to 2022, for example), and between public and private capital in ways that have not previously been the case.
“If you look at public markets around the world, you’ve seen a decline in listed companies, including in the US,” Walker said. (The overall number has more than halved since 1996.) “The London Stock Exchange needs to make sure that it’s got a compelling offering for companies that are looking to access capital — whether that be public or private — and then have geographic choice.”
“Companies now have a choice as to how do they want to access capital. Private markets have grown exponentially, and often [companies] have got a choice as to where are they going to access that capital. Capital markets have shrunk in that way, in terms of globalization of them.”
In essence, London versus New York is merely a battle in a wider war.