Consultative Committee Members Confirmed for UK Bond Consolidated Tape as Industry Milestone Nears

In a major step forward for post-trade transparency and fixed income market infrastructure in the United Kingdom, ETS Connect UK — the appointed provider of the UK bond Consolidated Tape (CT) — has announced the confirmed membership of its Consultative Committee, a key governance body designed to support the delivery and evolution of the first UK bond CT. The announcement comes amid accelerating preparations for the anticipated launch of the bond CT — scheduled for 22 June 2026 — following regulatory developments and industry engagement.

The Consultative Committee, formed through an open applicant process, brings together a balanced mix of market stakeholders, including data users, data contributors, vendors and academic experts, to advise the CT Provider’s Board on strategic and operational issues such as data quality, service delivery, pricing and overall performance. This committee plays a foundational role in shaping the tape’s design, governance and long-term sustainability, reflecting a collaborative approach between the provider and the capital markets community.

The establishment and confirmation of these members mark a significant milestone in the CT’s governance framework — a key building block in delivering a consolidated, high-quality data feed for UK bond markets and improving market transparency and efficiency.

Key Highlights

• Consultative Committee confirmed: ETS Connect UK has announced the members of the Consultative Committee for the UK bond Consolidated Tape.
• Diverse representation: The committee includes 20 members representing data users, data contributors, vendors and academia to ensure broad industry input.
• Strategic advisory role: Members will provide recommendations to the CT Board on matters including data quality, governance, performance and cost structures.
• Committee governance: The Consultative Committee will enhance the tape’s oversight and foster transparency and balanced representation of stakeholders.
• First meeting scheduled: The committee’s inaugural session is set for 10 March 2026.
• Industry collaboration: Trade associations may join as observer members, with further appointments expected by early March.

Why the Consultative Committee Matters

Supporting High-Quality Bond Market Data

The UK Consolidated Tape is a landmark initiative designed to collate and distribute comprehensive, high-quality bond trading data from across trading venues and over-the-counter (OTC) markets. By doing so, it aims to improve price formation, enhance liquidity visibility, and support informed decision-making for both institutional and retail investors — addressing long-standing transparency gaps in UK fixed income markets.

The Consultative Committee forms a crucial bridge between the market participants and the tape provider’s governance, allowing practitioners to influence how the tape operates, how data quality is maintained, and how competitive pricing structures are shaped. Such input is especially valuable given the diversity and complexity of the UK bond market, where trade reporting has historically been fragmented and opaque.

Ensuring Balanced Industry Representation

The selected committee members represent a cross-section of stakeholders:

• 11 data users — representing buy-side firms, asset managers and other institutions that will rely on the tape for price discovery.
• 5 data contributors — entities that will supply trade information to the tape, including trading venues and reporting firms.
• 3 vendors — data and market information providers who will help integrate and distribute the tape’s outputs.
• 1 academic expert — providing independent research perspective on market structure and data interpretation.

This blend ensures that the advisory body reflects both practical market needs and technical expertise, helping the CT evolve in a way that serves the broadest possible base of participants and use cases.

Consultative Committee’s Role and Activities

Advisory and Governance Functions

The Consultative Committee is tasked with providing structured advice, engaging in dialogue with the CT Board on key priorities and helping to advise on areas such as:

• Data quality metrics and standards
• Operational performance indicators
• Fee structures and cost-benefit considerations
• User experience and accessibility
• Market feedback and evolving requirements

This governance layer increases stakeholder confidence and adds transparency to the roll-out process, enhancing trust in the tape’s eventual operations.

First Committee Meeting and Next Steps

The first official Consultative Committee meeting is scheduled for 10 March 2026, where members will begin their advisory work and set priorities for engagement with ETS Connect UK and broader market participants. In parallel, observer members from trade associations are expected to be confirmed by 2 March 2026, further extending the committee’s reach within the ecosystem.

As the CT implementation timeline progresses toward its launch in mid-2026, the committee will be instrumental in shaping final technical specifications, public contracts, publication regimes and industry engagement events.

Market and Regulatory Context

The UK bond Consolidated Tape initiative forms part of a broader regulatory push to enhance post-trade transparency under the UK’s adapted MiFID II/MiFIR framework, which aims to unify fragmented market data and support data access for all participants. The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has signed a contract with Etrading Software to deliver the UK CT, having seen the suspension on the contract award lifted following legal challenge, allowing implementation work to continue.

Consolidated tapes — long standard in many US markets — provide unified data streams that can help improve liquidity assessment, price discovery, and regulatory oversight. Establishing this infrastructure in the UK is seen as a strategic priority to reinforce London’s role as a leading global financial centre post-Brexit.

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