UPDATE 2-TMX to provide consolidated Canadian market data
* Role allows for centralized consolidated data feed
* CSA says will review market data fees issues
* TMX shares rise 2.4 percent to C$34.50 (Adds details, quote)
TORONTO, June 5 (Reuters) - Toronto Stock Exchange operator TMX Group Inc (X.TO) will act as information processor to provide consolidated prices for Canadian-listed stocks from all marketplaces, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) said on Friday.
CSA, an umbrella group for the country's 13 provincial and territorial securities regulators, said the move will give market participants quick, consolidated real-time pricing data from multiple marketplaces in one spot.
TSX Inc, a unit of TMX Group, will provide access to pre- and post-trade pricing data from contributing marketplaces, as well as last sale and best bid and offer prices for all exchange-traded securities.
The CSA said TSX will act as an information processor for exchange-traded securities other than options for five years, starting July 1.
"We're thrilled that there's going to be an information processor and that we're going to have a consolidated quote," said Doug Clark, managing director of the quantitative execution equity products group at BMO Capital markets.
"We are at the same time concerned that they (CSA) chose not to address the data fee structure at the time of announcement."
Market participants have expressed concerns over the lack of transparency in the appointment of the information processor, including issues over market data governance, technology, fees and billing.
In the United States, exchanges or trading venues get paid for their data, based on their contribution to liquidity or to so-called price discovery within a marketplace, said Clark.
They really get paid for the value they add to the marketplace, which seems to be a "fair model," rather than individual venues charging their own data fees, he said.
CSA said TMX will address any conflicts, "whether real or perceived," by setting up a governance committee with marketplace representation to make decisions related to operations of the information processor, among other things.
The organization also said it will begin a review of market data fees and will determine what action, if any, to take on the topic.
"In today's multiple marketplace environment, data consolidation is important for both marketplace participants and investors," said Jean St-Gelais, CSA chairman and president of Quebec's Autorite des marches financiers. Continued...
