Asset Match Becomes the UK's Third PISCES Operator - A New Frontier for Private Company Liquidity
- Shawn Jhanji
- Apr 25
- 4 min read
For UK founders sitting on illiquid equity, the landscape for secondary share trading just quietly got bigger. On 22 April 2026, Asset Match Limited became the third operator to receive FCA approval to run a trading venue under the PISCES framework - the Private Intermittent Securities and Capital Exchange System - Britain's regulated sandbox for trading shares in private companies.
This follows approvals for the London Stock Exchange's Private Securities Market (PSM) and JP Jenkins' Private Market, both of which held their first trading events in March 2026. Asset Match's addition means the UK now has three distinct, regulated venues where private company shareholders can seek liquidity without converting to a fully public company.
What PISCES Is - and Why It Matters
PISCES was conceived to solve one of the persistent problems in the UK private capital ecosystem: shareholders in high-growth private companies - whether founders, employees with vested equity, or early investors - have had almost no regulated route to sell shares short of an IPO, a trade sale, or an expensive secondary block transaction.
Launched as a five-year regulatory sandbox by the FCA in June 2025, PISCES allows approved operators to host intermittent, periodic trading events in private company shares. It operates as a secondary market - existing shares only, no primary fundraising — and is restricted to institutional investors, high net worth individuals, sophisticated investors, and employees of participating companies.
The mechanics are closer to a scheduled auction than a continuous market. Operators set trading windows, parties submit buy and sell orders, and the system matches them. Pricing is transparent within the event, though not publicly disclosed in the way a listed security would be. It is, by design, a stepping stone: more liquid than traditional secondary markets, less exposed than an IPO.
Who Is Asset Match?
Asset Match is not a newcomer to periodic auctions in unquoted securities. The company has more than 14 years of experience operating this type of market and has conducted over 1,000 auctions, with a total value of more than £165 million in unquoted shares traded. That track record — built entirely outside a regulated sandbox — now has an official regulatory framework to grow into.
Iain Baillie, Founder and Executive Chair of Asset Match, stated the company is proud to bring regulated, periodic auction capability to the private markets. The approval enables the firm to host PISCES trading events under the FCA's oversight, with investor protection requirements and disclosure obligations built in.
What Three Approved Operators Signals for UK Founders
The approval of a third PISCES operator is significant not just for Asset Match, but for the broader ecosystem it serves. When a regulatory sandbox launches with one or two participants, it can feel experimental. Three operators — with different specialisms, different investor networks, and different operating models — signals that the UK's private share trading infrastructure is starting to look like a genuine market.
For founders, this means:
More venue choice: Different operators will attract different pools of buyers and company profiles. A biotech scale-up may prefer the LSE's network; a property company might fit better with JP Jenkins or Asset Match's existing investor base.
Maturing price discovery: As more companies use PISCES events and more data accumulates, the market will get better at calibrating fair values for private company shares — a notoriously opaque exercise.
Stronger employee equity propositions: Companies that commit to periodic PISCES events can make equity grants more tangible to talent, which matters enormously in competitive hiring.
A credible bridge to IPO: PISCES doesn't replace a public listing, but it can prepare a company for one — experienced shareholders, transparent pricing, and practiced disclosure all help.
The Gap That Remains
PISCES is not accessible to ordinary retail investors, and intentionally so. Its investor protections reflect the illiquid, high-risk nature of private company shares. Nor does it yet facilitate primary fundraising — companies cannot use PISCES events to issue new shares and raise capital.
The FCA has signalled it will review both constraints during the sandbox period, which runs until 2030. The more successful PISCES is in its current form, the stronger the case for expanding its scope.
For now, a third approved operator is a concrete step toward Britain's ambition of becoming Europe's leading hub for private capital formation and liquidity — one that was articulated clearly in the Mansion House reforms and is being built, piece by piece, in the practical architecture of PISCES.
Key Takeaways
Asset Match received FCA approval on 22 April 2026 to operate a PISCES venue, becoming the third approved operator after the LSE and JP Jenkins
The UK now has three regulated platforms for secondary trading in private company shares
PISCES operates through periodic auctions with access limited to institutional and sophisticated investors
Three operators signal the UK private share trading ecosystem is maturing beyond the experimental phase
For founders, this means more venue choice, better price discovery, and a more credible liquidity pathway short of IPO
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