The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has welcomed the recent proposal by European exchanges to build a consolidated tape, but highlighted the potential of the equities/ETF consolidated tape to attract more capital flows into mid-cap and small-cap stocks, as well as smaller markets generally.
A European consolidated tape is key to completing the objectives of the Capital Markets Union (CMU) and ensuring that European capital markets remain globally competitive.
However, EFAMA has identified “important use-cases for institutional and retail investors alike, not least in the ability to receive best execution on trades”.
As with any proposal, however, the devil will be in the detail, the association noted.
Tanguy van de Werve, director general of EFAMA, said: “It is our sincere hope that the review of MiFID/R will yield a viable framework for the emergence of a consolidated tape. The recent announcement by 14 exchange groups is welcome in this regard.”
Nevertheless, he said, it is important that the resulting equities tape displays both pre and post-trade equities/ETF data in real-time.
“From a cost perspective, the equities/ETF consolidated tape should be provided on a reasonable commercial basis, as already foreseen in MiFID/R. This will ensure wide take-up of the tape in the user community,” van de Werve said.
“Finally, the consolidated tape should meet the needs of market participants, and in no way be used to render European exchanges’ own proprietary feeds more attractive,” he added.
PEPP platform launched by UK technology provider
PEPP Cube, a fully operational Pan-European Pension Product (PEPP) platform, has been launched by UK-based CTC Pensions Technology.
PEPP was initially conceived in 2013 to support a rapidly growing customer base of European workers who travel for work, often living and working in different countries. According to CTC, 4.8% (16 million) European workers work cross border today, a figure that doubled from 2003 to 2018.
PEPP Cube has been designed for new entrants to the EU pension market as well as existing domestic providers and its simplified and defined product structure allows for rapid entry at a low cost.
PEPP Cube is software as a service and is based on DCube which today underpins many UK pension schemes, the firm stated.
PEPP Cube covers all EU countries and has limitless product configurations including an actuarial product configuration layer. It also includes tax treatment at the product layer (instead of by the customer). It is fully digital, real time and includes member self-service.
CTC said the platform is attracting interest from across the EU, with expressions of interest from pension regulators and providers, especially those based in the Netherlands and Belgium; global fund managers who typically have cross border expertise, and European pension consultants.
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