Tradeweb, MarketAxess and Bloomberg scrap joint bond prices 'tape' plan

Tradeweb Markets

08/12/2023 09:19

By Huw Jones
       LONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Tradeweb  TW.O , MarketAxess
 MKTO.O  and Bloomberg have scrapped plans to provide a prices
tape for the bond market in Britain or the European Union, they
said on Friday, citing "risk and complexity".
    The EU is seeking to deepen its capital market by creating
"consolidated tapes" of stock and bond prices from trading
platforms to give investors a market-wide snapshot to find the
best deals.
    Britain is also looking at setting up similar tapes as
Europe seeks to create a more efficient capital market that
competes better with Wall Street, which has long had such price
tapes.
    "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," Bloomberg,
MarketAxess and Tradeweb said in a joint statement.
    "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."
    Market participants are mulling whether to put in bids for
regulatory approval to offer tapes.
    The three companies had announced in May they had set up an
independent company to offer a price feed for corporate and
government bond trading, with cloud-based financial data
management firm FINBOURNE Technology selected to provide the
technology to build and operate the tape.
    The three companies said they remain independently committed
to working with regulators and the industry to contribute to
"this very important initiative".
    European stock exchanges such as Deutsche Boerse and
Euronext have joined forces to create EuroCTP to bid to the EU's
securities watchdog ESMA to offer a tape in share prices.

 (Reporting by Huw Jones
Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((huw.jones@thomsonreuters.com; +44 207 542 3326; Reuters
Messaging: huw.jones.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))