Project Heather (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

: ') was the steering group for a proposed new Scottish Stock Exchange, planned to be established in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. The exchange collapsed in 2019 leaving many staff owed unpaid wages.

History

The proposal for a new Scottish Stock Exchange was announced when the founding team reached agreement with Euronext to provide its Optiq trading engine to be the platform for the new market. The founding team noticed that the re-opening of the Scottish Stock Exchange was not one of the recommendations of the Growth Commission, and therefore commissioned its own research, undertaken by Momentous Change Ltd, on the history of the Scottish stock exchanges and the need now for a Scottish Stock Exchange after the result of the United Kingdom's referendum on

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

(EU) membership, in which Scotland, and Edinburgh, voted in favour of remaining within the EU, when the UK as a whole voted to leave. Project Heather was an Observer member of the

Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges The Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS) is a non-profit international organization comprising the main stock exchanges in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. The purpose of the Federation is to contribute to the coopera ...

. The exchange collapsed in 2019 leaving staff unpaid.

Scottish identity

The choice of Scotland for Project Heather was determined by the founding team and reflects the Scottish Government's adoption of a National Performance Framework which incorporates the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals and its commitment to a Well-being and a

net zero Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...

carbon economy. Edinburgh is Europe's 4th largest financial centre.

Impact focused

This social stock exchange was to be the first in the world to be built to operate in its own right as a regulated investment exchange - focusing on businesses that make purposefully a measurable positive impact on social and environmental issues - a key pillar of

inclusive growth Inclusive growth is economic growth that raises standards of livings for broad swaths of a population. Proponents for inclusive growth warn that inequitable growth may have adverse political outcomes. The definition of inclusive growth implies dire ...

, a key economic basis of the World Bank and the Scottish Government.

References

{{reflist Former stock exchanges in the United Kingdom Finance in Scotland