The boss of Flutter, who is moving the company’s main stock market listing to New York, said removing stamp duty on share trading would make London more competitive.
Peter Jackson, chief executive of the gambling company behind Paddy Power and Betfair, said more could be done to boost the stock market and stop companies fleeing into the Atlantic.
Flutter will abandon its main listing in London this month and after investors backed its plan to move its main share trading center to New York.
The move on May 31 will allow him to leave the FTSE 100. Asked what he could do to reignite enthusiasm on the London stock market, Jackson said: “How long do you have?”
He explained that reducing stamp duty on share trading would be a game-changer and make the UK more attractive.
Flutter CEO Peter Jackson (pictured) said more could be done to boost the stock market and stop companies fleeing into the Atlantic.
Critics argue it is deterring investment in London-listed companies. Jackson said the abolition of stamp duty on share trading would have a big impact on the volume of shares traded.
He said: “We have seen a considerable increase in the number of our shares traded daily as a result of our secondary listing in New York, and we expect that to increase when we have our primary listing change at the end of the month.” .
“And the more shares that are traded, if you are an investor looking to take a position in a company, the more confident you will be to take a larger position, knowing that you can get in and out without disturbing the share price.”
Investors pay 0.5 per cent stamp duty on the price of UK-listed shares they buy, but the tax does not apply to the purchase of shares in foreign companies.
It means that a saver who buys £10,000 worth of shares in FTSE 100 giants such as Rolls-Royce or Marks & Spencer pays £50 in tax but pays nothing at all to make the same investment in New York-listed Tesla or Amazon.
This has meant that a growing number of companies are looking towards the United States.
Stephen Bird, chief executive of asset manager Abrdn, recently called the tax “as unpatriotic as it is economically destructive” and argued that “its removal could be the biggest boost to share ownership in the UK”.
Flutter Share yesterday it fell 2 percent.
