The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a consultation on a series of proposed changes to its trading rules and market transparency requirements.
The FCA issued a consultation paper that sets out proposals that would alter trade reporting, pre-trade transparency requirements and the tick size regime.
The regulator said the changes are intended to “maximize execution quality for investors” while also improving post‑trade reporting and eliminating provisions that impose needless compliance costs.
At the same time, the FCA said the proposals are expected to enhance the resilience of trading on U.K. trading venues and to bolster cross-border competition in trading.
For instance, the paper said, “By allowing U.K. trading venues to source reference prices from overseas markets, market participants should have more choice and see greater competition on where they can execute their trades.”
In turn, enhanced competition should also lead to lower trading costs, it suggested.
Alongside proposed changes to the trading and trade reporting rules, the FCA is also seeking feedback on the structure of U.K. markets for retail orders, and on its approach to improving the market’s resilience to outages.
The consultation deadline is Sept. 16.