In a market study to begin this summer, the FCA will look into concerns that complex contracts for benchmarks and indices prevent switching to cheaper, better quality or more innovative alternative providers. Benchmarks and indices are used by market participants like asset managers, banks and clearing houses to track and evaluate asset prices and investment performance.
By the end of the year, the FCA will launch a second market study to assess whether high charges for access to credit ratings data is adding costs to investors and limiting new market entrants. Access to high-quality credit ratings helps investment managers assess financial risk, influencing which investments they make.
The FCA will also now begin gathering further information on competition in the market for wholesale trading data. Trading data include information on how many financial instruments are being traded, what people are prepared to pay for them and the price at which trades are executed. These data are supplied by venues – like stock exchanges – where these financial instruments are…
