Etrading Software has confirmed plans to bid to become the consolidated tape provider (CTP) for both the UK and EU as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) continue with data consolidation plans.
Speaking in an announcement, Sassan Danesh, chief executive of Etrading Software, said: “Our one concern is that the transparency regimes should allow a commercially viable tape to emerge. The buy-side in particular, must see value in the data.”
“We do not face the challenges of Cassette [the Bloomberg, MarketAxess and Tradeweb initiative] (managing consortiums and dealing with conflicts of interest are hard),” he added.
This news comes as fixed income trading venues and data providers Bloomberg, MarketAxess and Tradeweb scrapped their previous joint venture agreement to become the fixed income consolidated tape provider (CTP) in the EU, subject to regulatory approvals.
Speaking in an announcement on Friday, the three entities confirmed that they would not form an independent company in order to participate in the public procurement procedure to become the fixed income CTP in either the EU or the UK.
Read more: If you build it, will they come?
“Various developments in recent months have added further clarity to the risk and complexity of delivering this project under a joint venture from our three firms,” said the businesses.
“For example, uncertain outcomes around product definitions and structural complexities would significantly increase the timeline and costs associated with this approach. As such, after careful consideration, we have jointly agreed to end our engagement in this venture.”
The three venues confirmed plans to apply to become the EU tape provider in June last year via a public procurement process organised by ESMA, selecting FINBOURNE as their infrastructure provider.
Read more: Battle lines are drawn over European consolidated tape project
Back in September, a JV between major exchanges across Europe announced the incorporation of the new company, EuroCTP, with the aim of bidding to become the EU’s equities and ETF consolidated tape (CT) provider. Specifically, the JC participants include: BME, Deutsche Börse Group, Euronext, Luxembourg Stock Exchange, and Nasdaq.