Final Report published by Digitisation Taskforce

On 15 July 2025 the Digitisation Taskforce published its Final Report. This follows the publication of an Interim Report in July 2023 which prompted over 3,000 responses and resulted in a series of meetings with shareholder representative bodies, registrars, listed companies and intermediaries to gather their views. The Final Report analyses and explains this feedback and sets out 16 recommendations to implement the Taskforce’s three step plan for the digitisation process. 

As a reminder, the Taskforce was established with two main aims: (1) to push forward the full digitisation of the UK shareholding framework; and (2) to improve the UK’s intermediated system of share ownership (where interests in investment securities are held by participants through a chain of intermediaries).

As noted above, the Report suggests delivering this in stages, the first of which would be to remove paper shares and establish digitised registers (as set out in Recommendation 1). Physical share certificates would no longer be prima facie evidence of a person’s title to shares and instead the digitised share register would constitute evidence of title to the shares. The Report recommends that this should be implemented on a single date for all in-scope companies and the suggestion is that this should take place before the end of 2027.

Step 2 involves preparing for a fully intermediated system and the Report anticipates this would be initiated later this year with delivery by 2029 (see timetable on page 26 of the Report). Recommendations within this step include amending the legislation to make it easier for companies to communicate with shareholders digitally and making it the default position that companies make payments to shareholders electronically (with the ability to agree alternative means of payment) (Recommendation 5 and Recommendation 6).

Step 3 then concludes the process by transitioning all shares into the intermediated securities chain. At this point, the Taskforce recommend that the Technical Group (which is to be established to implement the Taskforce’s recommendations (Recommendation 2)) should consider whether (for example) there should be a restriction on new shares being issued on digitised share registers such that on a new admission to trading an issuer wouldn’t be able to use it and shareholders would have to participate in the intermediated securities chain (Recommendation 13) and the possibility of setting a “sunset” date for digitised registers to prompt the complete move to the intermediated system.

It is important to note that the focus of these reforms is solely on companies whose securities are traded publicly. There was no appetite for extending these measures to private companies. On that basis, whilst these reforms would represent a significant shift (and hopefully an improvement) in the organisation of the shareholdings of public companies, they are unlikely to result in a complete overhaul of the system, at least for now.

A strong desire to modernise and improve the competitiveness of UK markets for listed companies in particular – feeding into the wider narrative of making London “match fit” again for attracting and maintaining the listings of successful companies

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6870e2fd81dd8f70f5de3e7b/Digitisation_Taskforce_Final_Report.pdf