The European Commission has chosen to use Markit’s pricing data and liquidity metrics for research and policymaking activity.
Markit’s fixed income data currently covers 2.5 million instruments including corporate and sovereign bonds, securitised products and CDS.
Head of fixed income pricing at Markit, Kiet Tran, explained the data will provide the European Commission with “deeper context and insight for its fixed income market research and analysis.”
Tran added: “Markit’s independent liquidity metrics offer a standardised approach to measuring liquidity in the financial markets.”
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) recently proposed to the European Commission that bond rules under MiFID II should be ‘phased-in’.
Commissioner Jonathan Hill also urged caution on MiFID II liquidity rules, after asset managers voiced concerns about the legislation.
Global concerns about liquidity in markets have been well documented in the financial media in recent years, but fixed income has been further impacted by the prospect of harsher regulation to enhance transparency.
Hill said the Commission should be more “proportionate in the way legislation is applied, more cautious before doing anything that might reduce liquidity, and more ambitious about reducing reporting and disclosure requirements where it's appropriate”.