FCA sets 18-month path to create UK equity consolidated tape, launches interim market reporter

The Financial Conduct Authority on Friday set out an 18-month path to create a UK equity consolidated tape, a single feed designed to give investors a full view of share trading across the market, while also launching an interim daily market activity reporter and opening consultations on narrower market-structure changes.

The package is aimed at a basic problem in modern UK share trading: activity is spread across multiple venues and reporting channels, making it complicated and expensive to assemble a complete market picture. The FCA argues that UK equity markets are functioning effectively and remain liquid and resilient, but that fragmentation means market-wide data is often underused and the depth and liquidity of the market can be underappreciated.

A consolidated tape is meant to address that by bringing together trading information from across the market into a single source. In a press release published July 31, the FCA said the reforms “put us on a path to deliver an equity consolidated tape within 18 months.”

The regulator’s package has three parts. It confirms the framework for a future UK equity consolidated tape, opens a consultation on targeted market-structure reforms to support transparency, and introduces an interim market activity reporter for shares while the full tape is being developed.

That interim product is the most immediate change for market users. The market activity reporter for shares publishes estimates of total trading activity in listed shares, covering trades on UK venues as well as over-the-counter trades reported in the UK. It is available on the FCA’s data publishing platform, free to use subject to the platform’s terms, and includes data going back to Aug. 1, 2025.

The FCA also opened two consultations alongside the announcement, one on equity market transparency and market-structure developments and another on the framework for the future tape. Both run until Oct. 16, 2026. The regulator said it will consider feedback before beginning procurement for the provider that will operate the equity consolidated tape.

The move follows the launch of the UK bond consolidated tape in June 2026, which the FCA is using as evidence of demand for consolidated market data. According to the regulator, the bond tape has attracted more than 1.6 million license subscriptions since its launch.

Simon Walls, executive director of markets at the FCA, said the regulator sees the tape as a way to simplify access to information without changing its broader view that the market is working. “UK equity markets have evolved through competition, innovation and the choices made by investors and companies. These continue to be great foundations for a liquid and resilient market. A downside of choice can be complexity, but this needn’t mean a lack of transparency. A consolidated tape will make it simpler and easier for investors to see the whole market picture. Today’s package settles the big design questions and sets the path to deliver the tape within the next 18 months,” he said.

Industry groups cited by the FCA broadly welcomed the package. Adam Farkas, chief executive of the Association for Financial Markets in Europe, said the proposals take “practical steps to make market-wide information easier to access and use” while recognizing that UK markets are already functioning effectively.

The FCA’s message is that this is not an overhaul of a broken market. Instead, it is trying to make a fragmented one easier to see. By confirming the framework for the equity tape, launching a free interim reporting tool and seeking feedback on more targeted changes, the regulator is pushing for broader and simpler access to market-wide share trading data.