Market confidence moves welcomed

Moves to maintain market confidence and crackdown on possible abuse during rights issues were welcomed by the British Bankers' Association.

The BBA said the Financial Services Authority's new rules for disclosing short positions would improve transparency meaning the market would not get a false impression of the demand for the securities or the amount of shares on offer.

The new rules and the announcement of a more wide-ranging review into how companies raise capital echoes concerns raised with the Chancellor by the banking industry. The industry had suggested that the FSA should be able to extend its plea bargaining powers to help break insider-dealing rings.