Thomson Reuters today announced new initiatives to address the market fragmentation issues facing traders in Europe since the introduction of MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive). The launch of an independent consolidated tape and an analytical tool will allow traders to see share prices offered across the various exchanges and multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) in Europe.

This move by Thomson Reuters supports calls from the industry for the introduction of a European “consolidated tape” – a system in place in the US that provides share prices and trade data for all the US exchanges and trading facilities.

From today, Thomson Reuters customers will be able to access all best bid and offer data as well as all historical tick-by-tick data for the most liquid listed European Equities. The consolidated tape enables financial market professionals to comply with MiFID’s best execution requirements via a special type of Reuters instrument code (RIC) known as the .xbo (consolidated best bid and offer) and .xt (consolidated trade tape).

In addition, Thomson Reuters today also announced an analytical tool called Equity Market Share Reporter (EMSR) that allows firms to validate their choice of execution venues and the formation of the execution policy that MiFID requires them to publish. Equity Market Share Reporter (EMSR) is an intuitive online service which allows firms to analyse trading activity across European venues.

Sang Lee, Managing Partner, Aite Group, said: “As the competition for Pan-European equities market driven by MiFID and rise of MTFs heats up, the need for a Pan-European consolidated tape becomes even more urgent to ensure efficient price discovery and market transparency.”

Thomson Reuters is committed to offering the tools its customers need to comply with MiFID. A free trial of its Consolidated Tape is available to customers. For more information see: www.reuters.com/mifid

Steve Wilson, Global Head of Exchange Traded Instruments, said: “The introduction of MiFID has created market fragmentation and exposed the need for an independent consolidated tape and best execution tools. Our launch today is in direct response to industry calls for such services and part of Thomson Reuters ongoing commitment to provide consolidated views on a global basis.”