The prospect of a consolidated tape for Europe’s securities market has come one step closer after the European Parliament voted to adopt revisions to the MiFIR and MiFID II regulations.  

Prominent among those revisions is a consolidated tape across the EU’s securities market. In essence, this will involve the creation of centralised data feeds from the various execution venues and trading venues that make up the EU’s capital markets.

The first tape - scheduled to go live in 2025 - will be for bonds. The subsequent tapes for equities and derivatives are set to be operational in 2026.

It is now down to member states to approve the new rules and for the securities regulator Esma to publish the technical standards.

Asset managers and other market participants have long called for a consolidated tape to address the fragmentation in Europe’s securities market and to compete with markets in other regions.

Efama, the association for European asset managers, has welcomed the proposed reforms as “critical to improving transparency in EU capital markets and reducing the effects of market fragmentation”.

More specifically, in terms of the equities consolidated tape, Efama has praised the inclusion of mandatory contributions from trading venues, delivery in real-time and a single consolidator model rather than competing tape providers.

“With the legislative review behind us, we look forward to a healthy contest to choose the best providers for the bond and equities tapes,” said Tanguy van de Werve, Efama director general. “Consolidated European data in the two asset classes has long been lacking and will fill a major need for both domestic and foreign investors.”

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