Data and valuations vendor Markit looks keen to ramp up sales at Boat, the MIFID-compliant OTC trade reporting platform, as it buys out Boat’s nine bank owners and advertises for senior sales and technology management executives. Commenting on the purchase, Will Meldrum, managing director and head of Boat at Markit, said: “We look forward to launching second-generation products in the coming months.”

READ THE REST

Actions by monopoly publishers of MiFID-required over-the-counter (OTC) trade data may impede data consolidation, reduce transparency and ultimately force end users to pay “unfairly high prices” for data, warns market data vendor Bloomberg in its response this month to the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) proposed MiFID work programme (MiFID Monitor, October 2007). The data vendor is asking CESR to “take the initiative in addressing” this issue. It is, to date, the only vendor to have responded to this consultation.

READ THE REST

Deutsche Boerse and Chi-X are the latest entities granted Trade Data Monitor (TDM) status by the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA), bringing the total number of TDMs to five, including London Stock Exchange (LSE), PLUS Markets and Reuters. Meanwhile, Boat, the bank-owned trade reporting platform, says it “aims to be TDM registered at launch”.

READ THE REST

Despite confused reports in the press over whether Boat, the new trade reporting platform, is to be run for profit or as a utility, Boat’s business partner Markit is confident that the implementation of the built-for-purpose platform will be on schedule. Recent press reports have mistakenly referred to 15 consortium members. There are in fact nine: ABN Amro, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS.

READ THE REST

Reuters has released its Reuters Trade Publication (RTP) trade reporting facility, the first of three planned MiFID solutions. The move comes as Project Boat participants reportedly continue to wrangle over the commercial models the investment bank-backed trade-reporting consortium will employ.

READ THE REST

Reuters has released its Reuters Trade Publication (RTP) trade reporting facility, the first of three planned MiFID solutions. The move comes as Project Boat participants reportedly continue to wrangle over the commercial models the investment bank-backed trade-reporting consortium will employ.

READ THE REST

The selection this month of both BT Radianz and Colt to provide system hosting and network connectivity for the Project Boat trade reporting platform is aimed at ensuring the utility is highly resilient, while at the same time available to the broadest possible audience.

READ THE REST

Following its selection of key vendors this month, the Boat consortium of nine investment banks that plans to build a trade-reporting utility in support of institutions’ MiFID obligations has set itself an aggressive rollout schedule in order to meet the November implementation date for the directive. With third-party vendor distribution playing a key role as a channel to market for the Boat utility, the group plans to issue a draft technical spec for its platform API next month, followed swiftly by contributor agreements in March (see Table, Page 13).

READ THE REST

San Francisco-based GoldenGate Software Inc., which provides transactional data management systems, used the Finexpo event in London this month to unveil its trade-reporting, transaction-reporting and trade reconstitution solution for MiFID. The company is banking on its experience in managing high-volume transaction data, in real time and across heterogeneous technology environments, stands it in good stead to make hay while the MiFID sun shines.

READ THE REST

In an attempt to tackle possible market fragmentation and data integrity issues under MiFID, the U.K. Financial Services Authority (FSA) is proposing the private sector create a trade publication service to comply with rules regarding the publication of post-trade data. Indeed, a group of major investment banks appear to be taking steps toward such a solution with their so-called Project Boat.

READ THE REST

Under MiFID, the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) will no longer accept transaction reports by e-mail or fax, according to proposals contained in its latest consultation paper. The move towards all-electronic reporting is expected to have most impact on investment managers, putting paid to the widely held belief that the buy side won’t be affected by MiFID.

READ THE REST

London market data systems supplier Arcontech plans to pitch its CityVision StarNet data distribution platform as a solution for firms’ requirements in meeting the MiFID pre-trade price transparency, post-trade reporting and best execution requirements. Arcontech’s emergence in the MiFID space extends a growing list of offerings aimed at leveraging existing technologies to achieve compliance in these areas.

READ THE REST