The City watchdog has set the scene for the approval of Shein’s controversial £50billion flotation.
Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), said the decisions on listings are based on company disclosures and not ‘every aspect of their corporate behaviour’.
This will be a blow to the human rights groups who are lobbying the FCA to rebuff the Chinese fast fashion retailer’s float, planned for next year, amid concerns over its supply chain.
‘What parliament has not asked us to do is to be a broad regulator around every aspect of corporate behaviour and every company listed in the UK, everywhere around the world,’ Rathi told the Financial Times.
Human rights concerns: Chinese fast fashion retailer Shein is set to float on the London Stock Market
He used the example of miners listed in London, which ‘find themselves facing legal difficulties in many different parts of the world’.
Shein faces allegations that forced labour from China’s Xinjiang region is used to make the cotton in its garments.
It insists it has a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to forced labour.
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