European bourses join forces in bid to operate stocks price feed

Euronext, Deutsche Boerse and 12 other European stock exchange groups on Thursday said they would jointly propose creating a combined feed of their share prices to investors, throwing down the gauntlet to rivals ahead of European Union legislation.

EU states and the European Parliament are due in coming months to finalise a draft law that would mandate exchanges to provide prices of stock transactions on their platforms to a low price “consolidated tape” (CT) for investors to spot the best deals, reported Reuters.

Brussels wants to make its capital market deeper and more efficient by knitting a fragmented trading landscape. A tape has long been a feature of Wall Street. Banks and asset managers complain that the price of market data, a key money-spinner for bourses, is too expensive.

Once the draft law has been approved, the bloc’s securities watchdog ESMA would oversee a selection process for a CT provider, and the exchanges, which also include Nasdaq, SIX Group in Spain, and bourses in Vienna, Prague and Warsaw, said they would submit a proposal.

The EU draft law proposes a tape showing prices which are “as close to real time as technically possible”, but exchanges have lobbied for a CT with a delay of 15 minutes after a share transaction.