Bloomberg, MarketAxess and Tradeweb have entered into an agreement to establish a joint venture company to operate a fixed income consolidated tape provider (CTP) in the European Union region. A CTP is a company that collects and publishes consolidated trade data for financial instruments.

Electronification of Fixed Income Industry

Tradeweb announced the deal on Tuesday, noting that the companies have tapped industry veteran Neil Ryan to lead the initiative. The Nasdaq-listed electronic markets operator further noted that the move reflects the three firm’s desire to enhance transparency and promote electronification in the fixed income industry.

“The time has come to provide the European fixed income markets with a consolidated tape that is led by an initiative with deep experience in low-latency data processing, cleansing, consolidation and publishing within a regulated framework,” Ryan said in the statement. “Our end goal is a cost-effective CT that treats both data contributors and consumers fairly, while enabling open and impartial access to meaningful and helpful data using existing infrastructure.”

Meanwhile, Tradeweb in the statement noted that the three firms have also onboarded FINBOURNE Technology, a cloud-native financial data management firm, to help its build and operate the CTP on behalf of the new joint venture firm.

“FINBOURNE’s appointment was the culmination of a detailed and rigorous evaluation process, which considered critical compliance, operational, technical and security aspects of a fit-for-purpose CT,” Tradeweb said.

CTPs in Europe

In Europe, the European Union demands that CTPs provide data for all trades that take place in the jurisdiction regardless of where they originate from. The data are usually sent to market participants through various methods including through free websites or subscription-based services.

CTPs are overseen by the European Securities and Markets Authority. They help to foster transparency and liquidity provision in European financial markets.

Additionally, CTPs help in creating an equitable financial market by providing access to the same information to all market participants regardless of their locations. They also contribute to ensuring an efficient pricing of financial instruments.

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