[ F I X E D
I N C O M E
L E A D E R S
CONSOLIDATED TAPE
REMAINS A DREAM FOR
FIXED INCOME TRADERS
FIXED INCOME PARTICIPANTS EXPRESS
FRUSTRATION AT THE UNLIKELY LAUNCH OF A
CONSOLIDATED TAPE IN EUROPE FOR FIXED INCOME
TRADING DATA.
A
consolidated tape in fixed
income trading remains an
unlikely development in Europe in
the near future, despite the indus-
try’s continued desire for one to be
established.
The subject was at the forefront
of discussions and panels through-
out the event, alongside the chal-
lenges in consuming and analysing
the increased amount of data bond
traders are now faced with.
Stephane Malrait, global head of
market structure and innovation
for financial markets at ING, told
delegates that without regulatory
intervention, the launch of a con-
solidated tape in fixed income is
unlikely to happen any time soon.
“Nobody wants to create a
consolidated tape for the industry
under the current regulation. It
won’t happen for some time unless
there is some kind of regulatory or
political intervention to ease what
the consolidated tape providers
need to do,” he said. “Every multi-
lateral trading facility (MTF) and
systematic internaliser interacts
differently, and if we don’t force
some kind of harmonisation in
collecting data then we are not
going to succeed. But there is no
incentive for providers to cooper-
ate at the moment.”
Gherardo Lenti Capoduri, head of
Market Hub at Banca IMI, agreed
with Malrait, adding that as there is
still no consolidated tape in Europe
for equities, it is a distant dream for
S U M M I T
2 0 1 8 ]
fixed income. He also stated that
the reporting mechanisms under
MiFID II, including the Approved
Publishing Arrangements (APAs)
and Approved Reporting Mecha-
nisms (ARMs), are not working as
efficiently as they could under the
current market structure.
“The APAs and ARMs are not
working properly. I strongly
believe that the buy-side, sell-side
and software vendors have to work
together to solve the problem of
data, which is the most important
challenge for us. We need to man-
age, distribute and analyse data,
and at the same time, the famous
European consolidated tape is a
dream at the moment,” Capoduri
said.
“If we don’t force some
kind of harmonisation
in collecting data then
we are not going to
succeed. But there is no
incentive for providers
to cooperate at the
moment.”
STEPHANE MALRAIT, ING
Allianz Global Investors’ global
head of trading, Eric Boess, also
raised the issue at the conference
during a keynote interview with
MarketAxess’ chief executive, Rick
McVey. Boess expressed frustra-
tion with regulators in Europe
who have not made any meaning-
ful decisions on the issue of data
consolidation, specifically the lack
of a consolidated tape for fixed
income data, which has resulted in
a “RTS28 reports” which are pretty
much useless, because no-one can
read them.”
Issue 58 // TheTradeNews.com // 31