Members of the Investment Management Association (IMA) are not happy about the quality of market data following from the first year of MiFID being with us. According to an article in the FT this morning, a survery of IMA members has voiced concern over the fragmentation of trading venues leading to a deterioration in the quality of market data available.

Most institutions seem positive about the benefits of competition that multiple trading venues such as Chi-X, Turquoise and BATS bring, but IMA members would like to see a centralised venue where prices are consolidated and made available to the market (for free?), similar to the “consolidated tape” available for US markets.

Sounds like the institutional need for centralised data management across different departments and systems is also becoming apparent at a market and exchange level following MiFID. Multiple trading venues and decentralisation is necessary to bring the benefits of competition, but these benefits unsurprisingly do not come without costs or issues (see earlier post).