The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) has called for a “stakeholder driven board” for voting rights on a consolidated tape.
It comes after the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched a consultation in May this year, following the European Parliament’s approval of MiFID II and MiFIR revisions in January.
In a statement following the closure of the consultation, EFAMA said it “strongly urges” ESMA to moves beyond an advisory board and include “a full-fledged board with voting rights for a representative cross-section of stakeholders, including the user community”.
The adopted MiFIR plans will create three EU-wide consolidated tapes, which include bonds by mid-2025 and equities, ETFs and derivatives in 2026.
The equities and ETFs tape will include data from all trading platforms to provide investors with “up-to-date” transaction data for the whole of the EU.
Tanguy van de Werve, director general at EFAMA, commented: “Given that we are ever closer to the launch of bond and equity/ETF tapes in Europe, we are thinking ahead about how to futureproof the tapes.
“How do we ensure that conflicts of interest do not arise, that the tapes continue to meet the needs of a wide range of users, and that fees remain competitive?
“A robust governance framework with a stakeholder-driven board is the best way we can think of to avert any of these negative outcomes.”
The absence of a consolidated tape in Europe has long been seen as a barrier to the growth of UCITS ETFs, especially in competing with the US market for flows from regions from Latin America and Asia.
