The Financial Conduct Authority is investigating competition in the benchmarks and indices markets to ensure costs are not too high for the investment managers who use these products to track and evaluate asset prices and investment performance.
In a press release issued on Tuesday, the FCA said it will begin work on the market study this summer with an additional market study looking at credit ratings to be launched before the end of the year.
In a statement, FCA consumers and competition executive director Sheldon Mills (pictured) said: “Access to wholesale data is really important for those who want to make investment decisions. Without it, they lack the information they need to make properly informed choices. Our Call for Input and planned market studies are intended to ensure that competition is working well, that information is available to market participants that want it, and that innovation is keeping up with market developments.”
The FCA will now begin collecting trading data via venues like stock exchanges to see how many financial instruments are being traded, what people are prepared to pay for them and the price at which trades are executed.
