I have written extensively on the impact that Sarbanes Oxley is having on capital markets with the US disclosure and compliance rules resulting in more companies going public in London. Easier and less costly there.

Now, there's confirmation from PricewaterhouseCoopers that the trend is gathering force. According to the latest figures, Europe attracted nearly six times as many overseas IPOs than the US, in terms of volume, and more than three times in value. The 603 new listings on European markets were up more than 39 per cent on the 433 that listed there in 2004. The US figure fell from 236 to 205.

It's still early days, but if the trend continues it will put even more pressure on regulators to fix the problem. In the meantime, the New York Stock Exchange is trying to woo more listings. We can expect to see more of that.