The FCA has today launched a bond consolidated market data tape to give investors and market participants access to a single, real-time source of prices and trading activity across the UK bond market.
The new service, operated by ETS Connect UK, will give investors a real-time view of UK bond market activity for the first time, the FCA says.
The UK is the first country outside North America to launch a consolidated tape for bonds.
The regulator said that until now, data on UK bond trades was scattered across multiple sources, making it difficult to get a clear and complete picture of market activity.
The FCA said the launch builds on changes to the UK's bond market transparency rules that came into force in December.
The share of corporate bond trades reported in real time since then has risen from under 5% to over 75%, and for government bonds from around 30% to approximately 80%.
In some smaller parts of the market, real-time reporting increased more than 50-fold. The consolidated tape is the final step, giving users a single, comprehensive view of all that data, the regulator said.
Simon Walls, executive director of markets at the FCA, said: "Good markets run on good information. Today's launch of a consolidated tape gives investors a clear, reliable and comprehensive view of UK bond trading for the first time.
"The UK is a global leader in fixed income issuance and trading, and this is another important delivery in enhancing the competitiveness of the UK as a leading centre of finance."
The service launches with 98% market coverage of in-scope bond trading. The FCA said it will supervise ETS Connect UK throughout its five-year contract to ensure data quality and reliability.
The new service covers post-trade transparency data for bonds admitted to trading via UK venues. Exchange-traded notes (ETNs) and exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) are excluded.