Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on November 19, 2025
3 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleThe UK plans a 2027 launch for a stock trade tape to boost market transparency and attract more listings, with the FCA consulting on data inclusion.
By Phoebe Seers and Charlie Conchie
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's financial regulator said on Wednesday it was pushing ahead with plans to combine real-time data from different equity trading platforms into a single feed, launching a consultation on a system it expects to go live in 2027.
Such a "consolidated tape" is intended to provide greater transparency for investors and companies and encourage more firms to list on UK exchanges.
In its consultation paper, the Financial Conduct Authority said a more comprehensive view of trading would help combat the perception that British markets are more illiquid than international counterparts.
It proposed including post-trade data and attributed best bid and offer prices from multiple UK trading venues.
'LONG-NEEDED TRANSPARENCY'
A consolidated tape would "support the attractiveness of the UK as a listing destination, by providing a more accessible view of total UK equity market liquidity for issuers and investors", the FCA said.
A lack of perceived liquidity on the London Stock Exchange has been cited as one of the reasons for an exodus of companies from the market and a dearth of IPOs in recent years. Several companies have left for the U.S., which has long operated a consolidated tape.
Eleanor Beasley, Goldman Sachs' head of market structure, said a UK tape would bring "long-needed transparency" and play a "meaningful role in attracting capital and driving future growth".
The FCA plans to tender formally for the tape provider mid next year.
DEBATE OVER PRE-TRADE DATA
The FCA has proposed including “first-level” pre-trade data - the attributed best bid and offer from UK venues that make such information publicly available - in the tape.
Some market participants say more data, including prices and volumes beyond the best available prices, would give a clearer picture of liquidity, and would be key to a tape's success.
"A tape with real-time continuous data to five levels of book depth and full attribution will be more attractive to users and more likely to become economically self-sustaining," said April Day, head of capital markets at the Association for Financial Markets in Europe.
The London Stock Exchange Group has previously said there was no clear use case for a tape with pre-trade data, as vendors already provide that information. A person familiar with the group’s position said it had not changed.
After two years of operation, the regulator said it would consider whether to adjust the level of pre-trade data in the tape - a term originally used to describe how stock prices were transmitted. The watchdog's 10-week consultation seeks feedback on those proposals.
EU PLANS TO SELECT PROVIDER BY YEAR-END
The U.S. has long operated tapes for stock and bond prices, while the European Union plans to select a provider for its equities tape by year-end.
EuroCTP, a joint venture of European exchanges including Deutsche Boerse and Euronext, is the only confirmed bidder for the EU's tape.
The FCA has chosen a provider for a bond tape, but that rollout faces delays due to a legal challenge.
(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru and Phoebe Seers and Charlie Conchie in London. Editing by Ed Osmond and Mark Potter)
A consolidated tape is a system that provides a real-time feed of data from multiple trading platforms, offering a comprehensive view of market activity to enhance transparency for investors.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the regulatory body for financial markets in the UK, responsible for protecting consumers and ensuring market integrity.
Post-trade data refers to the information generated after a trade has been executed, including details like price and volume, which helps in assessing market liquidity.
Liquidity refers to the ease with which an asset can be bought or sold in the market without affecting its price. High liquidity indicates a more stable market.
An IPO, or Initial Public Offering, is the process through which a private company offers its shares to the public for the first time, allowing it to raise capital.
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