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LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - MarketAxess, Tradeweb and Bloomberg have set up an independent company to offer a real time pan-European Union single price feed for corporate and government bond trading.
The three firms said in a joint statement on Tuesday that industry veteran Neil Ryan will lead the 'consolidated tape' initiative, that would need EU regulatory approval.
The bloc is finalising rules to set up tapes, which are a real-time record of transaction prices, in stocks, derivatives, bonds and exchange traded funds to help improve availability and ease of price information to retail and institutional investors, seen as key to a deeper and more competitive capital market.
Cloud-based financial data management firm FINBOURNE Technology has been selected to provide the technology to build and operate the bond tape for the new company.
The proposed tapes have faced opposition, in particular from stock exchanges whose market data is a key revenue source. The bourses would have to provide this in return for a portion of the tape's fee paid by users.
Ryan, who has worked for Lehman, UBS, Wells Fargo and the Irish government, said the goal is to create a cost-effective bond tape that treats contributors and consumers fairly.
"Our motivation is to improve transparency and spur electronification in the fixed income space," Ryan said.
Once the EU rules have been agreed by the European Parliament and EU states, the bloc's securities watchdog ESMA would start a public tender process later this year or early in 2024 to select and authorise providers of tapes.
Tech firm Etrading Software, backed by Lloyds Banking Group , is also showing an interest in creating a tape.
There are already stock and bond tapes on U.S. markets, and Britain is also considering a fixed income market tape. (Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Alexander Smith)
