FSA outlaws financial stock shorting

Conscious of the role shorting played in accelerating the decline of Lehman Brothers and other banking stocks in recent days, the regulator has stepped in to outlaw the technique until 16 January 2009. The ban prohibited the active creation or increase of net short positions in publicly quoted financial companies from last night, while the FSA also requires the daily disclosure of all net short financial stock positions in excess of 0.25% from 23 September. Both provisions will be reviewed after 30 days and the regulator says it is ready to extend the approach to other sectors if necessar...