The Financial Conduct Authority will begin publishing a daily summary of trading in UK shares starting Friday [1].
This move represents a significant shift in market oversight by providing a broader view of equity activity. By making this data public, the regulator aims to reduce information gaps between large institutional traders and smaller market participants.
The initiative serves as a stepping stone toward a more comprehensive system. The FCA said it aims to launch a single feed of trading data for UK stock markets within 18 months [3]. This consolidated tape would provide a real-time, unified stream of trade and quote data across all venues.
The daily reports are intended to provide a "free daily market activity reporter for shares," the FCA said [2]. This tool is designed to give developers and fintech companies access to trading volumes across all UK equity venues. The data will include activity from dark pools, and off-exchange flows that conventional data sources typically miss [2].
By integrating these diverse data streams, the regulator intends to increase overall market transparency [2]. The transition to a consolidated feed is expected to modernize the UK's financial infrastructure and make the markets more competitive on a global scale.
The agency will maintain the daily summaries as a bridge until the full single feed is operational [3]. This phased approach allows the industry to adjust to the increased transparency before the final system is implemented [1].
“The FCA said it aims to launch a single feed of trading data for UK stock markets within 18 months.”
The move toward a consolidated tape addresses a long-standing criticism of the UK markets, where fragmented data across different trading venues creates an uneven playing field. By exposing 'dark pool' and off-exchange data, the FCA is reducing the advantage held by high-frequency traders and large banks who previously paid for private data feeds. This transparency is likely to attract more fintech innovation and potentially increase liquidity by lowering the barrier to entry for smaller investors.
