The UK’s post-Brexit reform to anonymise short-selling disclosures is a positive step, but it will only succeed if it is accompanied by a fundamental shift from blunt regulation to market-led innovation in data analytics and technology-driven transparency, says Tim Focas

Britain’s post-Brexit financial debate often concludes with a tired binary view that deregulation equals danger, and regulation equals safety. The FCA’s latest move to scrap the public naming of short sellers will likely be met with the usual warnings of less transparency and more risk.

That’s completely the wrong way to look at this. In reality, this is one of the most meaningful reforms the UK has delivered since leaving the EU, but only if it’s followed through properly.

The change itself is pretty straightforward. The FCA will stop publishing the names of investors betting against UK-listed shares once their short position, a bet that a company’s share price will fall, exceeds 0.5 per cent. Instead, it will only publish total, anonymous short interest – just like the US does. The........

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