The EU Short Selling Regulation (SSR) introduced a private and public notification regime for investors who hold net short positions in certain financial instruments. We explain notifications and disclosures below.
On this page 
End of the transition period
The EU SSR and the Level 2 regulation (regulation EU 918/2012) were converted into domestic law as amended by the Short Selling (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 following the end of the transition period.
The Binding Technical Standards, adopted under the EU SSR as at the end of the transition period, have also been converted into UK law and apply as amended by the Technical Standards (Short Selling) (EU Exit) Instrument 2019.
ESMA Guidelines adopted under the SSR have not been incorporated into UK law.
ESMA Guidelines and Q&A documents adopted under the SSR, should be treated in line with our general approach to EU non-legislative materials. Generally, firms should continue to follow and have regard to such materials to the extent they are relevant under UK SSR.
We published our Primary Market Bulletin 21, 24 and 32 in which we inform market makers of changes to the regulatory obligations under UK SSR. PMB 21 and 32 are particularly important for firms using the market-maker exemption under the SSR, as they explain the key conditions for the exemption and equivalence of EEA regimes.
Under the UK SSR, you may have to notify us of positions that are private or are to be disclosed publicly.
See the public short positions disclosed to us – daily update (XLSX).
18 December 2023 update
The Short Selling (Notification Threshold) Regulations 2023 – FCA implementation
Following Treasury’s Short Selling Regulation Review: Call for Evidence and its Response, the Government has introduced the Short Selling (Notification Threshold) Regulations 2023 (SI 2023/1258) (SI). This SI increases the notification threshold for the reporting of net short positions in shares to the FCA from 0.1% to 0.2% of total issued share capital of an issuer. These Regulations will come into force on 5 February 2024. The Treasury has also published an accompanying Explanatory Note for the SI.
On 28 November 2023, we said we would provide an update on how the change in the reporting threshold will be implemented.
We can now confirm that we will be ready to receive notifications at the 0.2% threshold from Monday 5 February 2024. We now request firms to make the necessary changes to their systems and internal processes to allow them to submit notifications at the higher threshold via our Electronic Submission System (ESS portal).
Until the threshold change is implemented on 5 February 2024, firms are required to continue to report positions which are at or above 0.1% and below 0.2%. For those positions, no closing reports will be required from 5 February 2024.
For open positions at 0.2% and above reached before, on or after 5 February 2024, closing reports will be required as usual when the position falls below 0.2%.
If you have further questions in relation to the implementation of the 0.2% reporting threshold, please send us an email to [email protected] with the subject ‘Net short position threshold change’.
Draft Statutory Instrument – Short Selling Regulations 2024 – For comments in January 2024
Following the Treasury’s Short Selling Regulation Review: Call for Evidence and its Response to that, the Government has published a draft statutory instrument (SI) alongside an explanatory policy note. This sets out how the Government will replace the retained EU law Short Selling Regulation, including aspects on sovereign debt, with a new framework tailored for the UK.
That Call for Evidence was part of the Government's wider programme to repeal and replace retained EU law in financial services. The Government welcomes any technical comments on the draft SI by 10 January 2024. The Treasury plans to lay this instrument before Parliament in 2024, subject to Parliament time allowing.
Short Selling Regulation: Government Response – sovereign debt and credit default swaps
Following July 2023’s Short Selling Regulation: Consultation – sovereign debt and credit default swaps, the Treasury has published its Response with the Government’s final policy position for the regulation. This document summarises consultation responses received and sets out the Government’s approach under the UK’s new regime.
Register to submit a notification
To be able to submit a short selling notification to us on behalf of a position holder (whether a firm or an individual), the person making the notification (the reporting person) must be registered with us through our Electronic Submission System (ESS).
If you are making notifications for yourself as an individual reporting person, you will still need to be registered as a reporting person beforehand.
You will not be able to send any notifications until we have accepted your registration.
Firstly, you will need to create a personal ESS account before you are able to submit a SSR registration form.
Once your account has been approved, you will need to submit one of the following Position Holder registration types:
- Registration for New Position Holder Firm – This registration type is to register yourself as a reporting person for a firm that has not been registered before.
- Registration for Existing Position Holder – This registration type is to register yourself as a reporting person for a firm/individual that is already registered.
- Registration for New Position Holder Individual – This registration type is to register yourself as a position holder individual or for an individual that has not been registered before.
For all the above registration types, you will need to upload an authorisation letter on the ESS portal. The authorisation letter should be on your company letterhead and state which individuals have permission to submit notifications on behalf of the firm/individual. This should be signed by an individual who has the authority to give this level of permission.
For registering a New Position Holder Firm, a certificate of incorporation of the firm will be required.
For registering a New Individual Position Holder, you must provide a copy of the position holder’s driving licence or passport.
Once we have accepted your registration we'll send you an acceptance email in addition to giving you permission to make SSR notification submissions on ESS.
If there is more than one reporting person for a position holder, each reporting person must complete the registration process.
This is detailed in section 5 of our ESS user guide.
UK sovereign debt thresholds
For thresholds regarding UK sovereign debt and uncovered positions in UK sovereign CDS, see the below table which we update on a quarterly basis.
Notification thresholds for net short positions on UK sovereign debt – valid as of 15 April 2024
| Sovereign issuer |
Amount of outstanding UK debt (in million €) - Duration adjusted |
Initial threshold | Incremental level | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| in % | in million € | in % | in million € | ||
| United Kingdom | 28,735,807.23 | 0.50% | 143,679.07 | 0.25% | 71,839.52 |
How to make a notification
You must send your notification to us through our Electronic Submission System, following the registration of reporting persons and position holders.
You should send your positions by 3.30pm on the trading day after the day the position was reached. All calculations should be made as at midnight on the trading day the position was reached.
Correct or delete an incorrect notification
When you submit a net short position notification, you will see a position ID in your ESS portal. There is a unique ID for every position submitted to us.
If you need to correct or delete a notification, you must submit a Net Short Position Share Notification – Correct, and reference the position ID of the notification that you wish to correct.
If the position is completely incorrect and you wish to delete it you will need to submit a Net Short Position Share Notification – Delete, and reference the position ID of the notification you wish to delete.
Do not use the notifications types above (for correcting or deleting a notification) to report a movement of a position, or the closing out of a position. Use these notification types only when you have given us incorrect information in a notification.
Please follow the above steps if you wish to correct or delete a previous notification sent to us in UK sovereign debt or in uncovered UK sovereign credit default swaps (CDS).
Notes for using the forms on ESS
You must provide all the mandatory information (highlighted by a red asterisk) to complete the forms on ESS.
The ISIN code of the stock must be provided in the correct format (12 alphanumeric characters) and a percentage position must always be completed to 2 decimal places.
No ISIN code is required for reporting net short positions in UK sovereign debt and in uncovered UK sovereign CDS.
Exemptions from the UK SSR
Market makers and authorised primary dealers with an exemption under the SSR may not have to comply with these obligations when undertaking market-making activities in the financial instruments their exemption applies to.
See our list of market makers and authorised primary dealers.
Request for guidance
You can request guidance in writing and on a named basis only.
We expect you to have considered the query before writing to us, and we may reject any queries that we don’t consider are seeking guidance.
Email queries to [email protected], with the subject line ‘Request for guidance: SSR’.