UK launches first real-time consolidated tape for bonds

The UK on Monday launched its first real-time consolidated tape for bonds, creating a single source of post-trade prices and trading activity across the market for the first time.

The change is a practical one for investors: instead of piecing together bond trade data from multiple trading venues and reporting systems, they can now use one feed that aggregates that information in real time. That matters because bond markets are typically more fragmented and less transparent than stock markets, making it harder to see where trades are happening and at what price.

The service, which went live on June 22, is operated by ETS Connect UK under a five-year contract. The Financial Conduct Authority, Britain’s financial markets regulator, said the tape launches with 98% market coverage of in-scope bond trading. It covers post-trade transparency data for bonds admitted to trading on UK venues, but excludes exchange-traded notes and exchange-traded commodities. The FCA said it will supervise ETS Connect UK for data quality, completeness and timeliness.

The launch follows changes to UK bond market transparency rules that took effect in December 2025. According to the FCA, those changes sharply increased the share of trades reported in real time, laying the groundwork for a single market-wide view. Real-time reporting for corporate bond trades rose from under 5% to over 75%, while government bond trades increased from about 30% to about 80%, the regulator said. In some smaller parts of the market, it said, real-time reporting increased by more than 50-fold. The FCA described the new tape as the final step in bringing that newly available data into one comprehensive feed.

“Good markets run on good information. Today’s launch of a consolidated tape gives investors a clear, reliable and comprehensive view of UK bond trading for the first time,” Simon Walls, executive director of markets at the FCA, said in a statement. “The UK is a global leader in fixed income issuance and trading, and this is another important delivery in enhancing the competitiveness of the UK as a leading centre of finance.”

Bryan Pascoe, chief executive of the International Capital Market Association, an industry group, said the launch would provide an accessible and affordable source of post-trade data and support better execution analysis and market participation.

The FCA said the UK is the first country outside North America to launch a consolidated tape for bonds. The regulator said it chose to start with bonds after consulting market participants and is also working to deliver a consolidated tape for equities.