big xyt Announces Formal Bid for European Consolidated Tape Provider with Widespread Industry Support

LONDON – Thursday, 3 April, 2025 – big xyt, a leading independent provider of high-quality European trade data and analytics, today announced its formal intent to become the official provider of the EU Consolidated Tape (CT) for equities and ETFs. The company’s official entry into the bidding process follows overwhelming support from across the financial industry and addresses growing concerns about limited competition in the selection process.

With over a decade of experience consolidating European market data, big xyt brings proven expertise in harmonising the complex trading landscape across multiple jurisdictions, venues and currencies.

“After careful consideration and in response to strong encouragement from our partners throughout the financial ecosystem, we are stepping forward to offer the market an independent consolidated tape solution,” said Robin Mess, Chief Executive Officer at big xyt. “Since 2014, we have set the highest standard possible for transparency across markets. By building our own tape, we’ve created the foundation for best-in-class pre- and post-trade analytics. This capital-efficient solution not only enhances the quality of our insights but also reinforces our ongoing commitment to market integrity and accessible, high-quality information.”

big xyt’s bid addresses several key industry concerns, including data quality, cost and most importantly – independence. The company’s proprietary cloud platform already normalises diverse trading venue conditions to deliver precise trading volume aggregations and comprehensive market analysis, positioning it as a natural partner for this critical market infrastructure initiative.

Industry leaders have welcomed big xyt’s participation in the process.

big xyt’s independent structure allows the company to focus primarily on delivering market participants’ need for a transparent, objective and complete view of the EU equity and ETF market, by providing a consolidated tape that is free from any bias or impartiality. The solutions are trusted by a wide range of industry participants—from tier-1 institutions to specialised firms—across the sell side, buy side, exchanges and regulatory bodies. Its capabilities include:

• Granular Level 3 analytics with full market depth and visibility into individual order behavior and participant activity.
• Real-time trading analytics with nanosecond precision for accurate and immediate market insights.
• Comprehensive pre- and post-trade analytics to support execution quality, strategy evaluation and compliance.
• Robust data normalisation, harmonisation and quality assurance to ensure consistency, comparability and reliability across venues, asset classes and geographies.
• Cloud-native proprietary technology stack built to process billions of records daily, scale effortlessly and handle extreme volume surges.
• Proven expertise in regulatory requirements, including MiFID II, with audit-ready, transparent data to meet global compliance standards.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is overseeing the selection process for the consolidated tape provider under the MiFIR Review. big xyt’s bid introduces much-needed competition to the process, which has previously seen several potential providers withdraw.

“We believe that competition in this selection process is essential to delivering the best possible outcome for all market participants,” added Robin Mess. “Our independent approach ensures that the resulting consolidated tape will serve the entire market fairly while advancing the regulatory goals of improved transparency and efficiency.”

As the formal tender process is expected to begin no earlier than June, we are actively engaging with stakeholders and supporters to shape a capital structure that reflects the collaborative and neutral nature of the initiative. Our focus remains on ensuring broad market support and a sustainable governance framework that will serve the industry’s long-term needs.