UPDATE 1-Tradeweb, MarketAxess and Bloomberg scrap joint bond data plan
(Writes through with more detail)
By Huw Jones
LONDON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Tradeweb, MarketAxess and Bloomberg have scrapped joint plans to provide a single real-time feed of bond prices from across Europe to help investors spot the best deals, citing complexity and costs, leaving Wall Street ahead of the competition.
The U.S. has long had so-called "consolidated tapes" which provide a feed of stock and bond prices transacted across markets, with the European Union and Britain wanting similar services to deepen their capital markets.
The EU approved rules earlier this year for creating consolidated tapes of stock and bond prices from trading platforms to give investors a market-wide snapshot of activity.
Currently, only big investors like asset managers and banks have deep enough pockets to pay for individual price feeds from each of the main trading platforms.
"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 to EU and UK regulators to win approval to gather prices that platforms would have to provide in return for a fee.
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".
LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, said in December last year that it had made a "significant investment" in capital markets technology firm Etrading Software.
Etrading, which has said the investment would strengthen its proposition to create a consolidated tape for fixed income in Britain and Europe, had no immediate comment on its latest plans.
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 and Elaine Hardcastle)
