EMCAs – Stacey Parsons, Winner of the Instinet Positive Change, Visionary award, 2024
Stacey Parsons, managing director of capital markets and head of fixed income at PrimaryBid, was awarded the Instinet Positive Change Visionary award at this year’s European Market’s Choice Awards. In light of her win, Parsons spoke to Global Trading about her career so far and what comes next.
What has been the biggest challenge in your career so far, and how did you overcome it?
I believe everyone is presented with significant challenges during our careers, but the key is how we deal with these. One thing that has struck me is the challenge to change mindsets. Something I witnessed very early on was being told that ‘women aren’t really cut out to be in capital markets’, or that ‘we have always done it like that, so there’s no need to change it’. I have never been one to shy away from challenging mindsets, widening focus, and making sure that, as foot soldiers of the future for financial services, we continue to evolve both personally and professionally. That’s how innovation works.
You have been instrumental in changing the perception of retail investment in the UK – but what obstacles still remain, and what needs to be done to encourage and support retail inclusion?
I have been very fortunate to work across the ecosystem of capital markets for retail and wealth over the last 25 years, particularly in fixed income trading. We have witnessed a significant and disproportionate trend of treating retail, and in some parts wealth management, as less important than wholesale markets. We’ve got to a place where these markets don’t meet, which fragments liquidity and capital. It has led to a lack of access to information, data, research, education and products such as bonds.
A number of high profile policy initiatives over the last four years in both equities and debt has highlighted this disparity in the UK. With the right safeguards, the right information and the right access, we have the opportunity to support a significant change in market practice. Access to the high quality corporate debt and equity raises is an important part of the retail and wealth toolkit.
Why is retail inclusion so important, and what benefits will it bring to the wider capital markets?
Retail investors are the ultimate users of our capital markets, whether they invest directly, through a wealth manager or through a chain of intermediaries and product providers in their pension.
But the UK’s cultural approach to retail investment, when compared to other jurisdictions such as the United States, is not as well developed. What I’m excited about is that technology offers pathways to include rather than exclude — getting more tailored information into people’s hands faster, helping them understand investment decisions.
What can we expect from you and from PrimaryBid this year, what further activity is on the cards and what do you want to achieve next?
Putting the public back into public markets is core to PrimaryBid. In the UK, we’re looking forward to the FCA’s changes to the listing and prospectus rules, the result of four years of coalition, being built into market practice. It means retail investors can play a larger role in capital raising — and that means corporate debt as well as equity. To deliver this we’re really looking hard at our partnerships — with the UK’s retail distribution platforms and wealth managers of course, but also with information service providers, stock exchanges, and ultimately directly with the UK PLCs and their advisers. There’s a huge opportunity for companies to build a better relationship with retail capital, and we think PrimaryBid’s technology and convening power can sit at the heart of that.
What does winning this award mean to you, and what advice would you give to those wanting to follow in your footsteps?
To receive the Instinet Positive Change Visionary Award was a great honour. I hope that it continues to give people the inspiration and courage to challenge mindsets!
This article was first published in Global Trading.
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