The European Union cleared a significant hurdle toward unifying its financial markets with a provisional deal to create a consolidated tape of trading activity from across the region.
(Bloomberg) — The European Union cleared a significant hurdle toward unifying its financial markets with a provisional deal to create a consolidated tape of trading activity from across the region.
EU member states and the European Parliament agreed to establish centralized data feeds for different assets that would combine information from the plethora of trading venues across the 27-member bloc, according to Sweden, which holds the bloc’s rotating presidency.
Once the deal is finalized, it would mean that, for the first time, investors could see a complete picture of prices and volumes across the entire region.
“Market data from all trading platforms will be included in consolidated tapes, which will aim to publish the information as close as possible to real time,” the European Council said in a news release. “As a result, investors will have access to up-to-date transaction information for the whole of the EU.”
A consolidated tape has long been viewed as vital to Europe’s hopes of reviving its moribund equity markets to compete with the US. But a fragmented investor base, differing regulatory regimes and multiple operators have kept a deal out of reach for years.
Taggart Davis, the head of EU government affairs for the Managed Fund Association, which represents hedge funds, said the deal is a positive steps for EU competitiveness. “It supports broader, cost-effective access to market data, which enhances the ability of alternative asset managers to deliver reliable returns for their investors, including EU-based pensions,” he said in a statement.
While the tape still faces hurdles — EU member states and the parliament must still formally approve the deal, while technical and operational details still need to be worked out — the agreement represents a major breakthrough. Sweden, in its role with the EU presidency, appears to have engineered a compromise over one key issue by proposing that some valuable data be kept anonymous.
Read more: Europe Makes Fresh Push on Consolidated Tape for Stocks
The latest negotiations are part of a broader effort to review existing regulations like the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, or MiFID II, and find fixes to reinvigorate European finance. Creating the tape has become a central plank of those discussions, part of Europe’s drive toward a capital markets union that breaks down barriers between the financial markets of its members.
Read more: Why Europe Is Overhauling Stock and Bond Trading Data: QuickTake
Alongside the provisional tape deal, the EU has agreed to introduce a general ban on payments for order flow, which will have to be phased out by 30 June 2026. Policymakers also agreed to overhaul the rules on trading commodity derivatives.
Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, competes with firms to aggregate and distribute market and trading data throughout Europe. It’s signed a joint venture agreement with MarketAxess and Tradeweb with the intention of participating in the public procurement procedure to become the EU’s fixed income consolidated tape provider.
(Updates with quote from Managed Funds Association in sixth paragraph)
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