On 12 July 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a public consultation on the development in prices for pre- and post-trade data and on the post-trade consolidated tape (CT) for equity instruments.

The consultation covers the review provisions on the development in prices for pre- and post-trade transparency data from regulated markets, multilateral trading facilities (MTFs), organised trading facilities (OTFs), approved publication arrangements (APAs) and consolidated tape providers (CTPs) as well as the functioning of the consolidated tape (CT) for equity instruments as provided for in Articles 90(1)(g) and 90(2) of MiFID II and Article 52(7) of MiFIR. Since these mandates are closely linked, ESMA decided to cover them in one single review report.

Section 2 presents the scope of the issues covered in the consultation: the development of prices for pre- and post-trade transparency data and the functioning of the CT. Section 3 assesses the development of prices for market data and the application of the main MiFID II/MiFIR provisions aiming at reducing the cost of market data: the requirement to publish market data on a reasonable commercial basis, the requirement to provide market data in a disaggregated format, and the requirement to make market data available free of charge 15 minutes after publication.

Section 4 assesses the functioning of the CT by analysing the reasons for the lack of an equity CT in today’s environment, the availability, timeliness and quality of the current data offer for post-trade transparency data in equity markets and the risks of not having an equity CT. On the basis of this analysis, ESMA identifies potential success factors for establishing an equity CT. Furthermore, section 4 briefly assesses the impact of Brexit on establishing an equity CT.

The Annex presents a high-level summary of the roundtables with trading venues, data users and data vendors held at ESMA on 15 and 16 May 2019 as well as a detailed assessment of the market data services currently offered by data vendors.

The deadline for comments on the consultation is 6 September 2019.