The FCA has launched a consultation on proposals to introduce a UK equity consolidated tape to help increase capital investment and liquidity in equity markets.

In the UK, equity trading is spread across multiple trading venues, sparking competition, innovation and lowering the cost of trading. However, it can also make it challenging for market participants to assess overall market liquidity, causing it to be underestimated.

An equity tape brings data from across UK markets together, providing investors with a more comprehensive and clear view of the market. This will help boost market participation and the global competitiveness of UK equity markets.

The equity tape is part of the FCA’s strategic priority to support growth and maintain the UK’s position as a leading global financial centre.

The new framework aims to:

• Improve market effectiveness by providing a clear, consistent view of trading volumes and prices across UK venues.
• Support UK listings by giving firms and investors a more complete picture of liquidity in UK equity markets.
• Increase participation in UK markets by ensuring easy and affordable access to market data, supporting liquidity.
• Strengthen international competitiveness by enabling informed comparisons of liquidity with major financial centres including the US and EU.

Simon Walls, interim executive director of markets at the FCA, said:

‘UK markets offer diverse trading options which can be great for competition, choice, and lowering trading fees. But this landscape makes it harder to assess liquidity as a whole in our markets.

‘The equity consolidated tape seeks to tackle this challenge head on by delivering more straightforward access to equity market data from across venues, supporting better decisions and boosting market participation.’

Following extensive market engagement, the consultation is seeking feedback on introducing a tape that includes both post-trade data and the attributed best bid and offer prices (the first level of pre-trade data) across UK trading venues.

This proposed design aims to balance delivering benefits to the market with the need to ensure the consolidated tape’s timely implementation and minimise excessive risk.

The equity tape aims to be in operation in 2027. After 2 years of operation, the FCA will review the framework’s effectiveness, including whether pre-trade data levels should be varied.

Source: FCA