CP26/39: Income sharing distribution and operational incident reporting for consolidated tape providers
AI Analysis
The FCA is consulting until 17 December 2026 on the methodology for distributing the equity consolidated tape provider’s income-sharing pool among data contributors, following its July 2026 decision that the equity CTP must share part of its income. It is also proposing enhanced operational incident reporting requirements for all CTPs, alongside the broader incident-reporting regime taking effect on 18 March 2027; market commentary indicates that income sharing is being viewed as a mechanism to secure venue participation and the tape’s long-term commercial viability, while the incident regime is intended to standardise escalation and improve supervisory visibility.
Key dates
- 2026-10-29
- FCA CP26/39 published and consultation opens.
- 2026-12-17 Deadline
- Deadline for responses to CP26/39.
- 2027-03-18
- PS26/2 final rules and guidance on operational incident and material third-party reporting come into force; the CTP-related enhanced reporting framework is expected to apply from this date.
- 2027-01-01
- FCA plans to publish a Feedback Statement confirming the income-sharing metric and percentage for the equity CTP.
- 2027-04-01
- FCA expects to publish its Policy Statement on how shared equity-CTP income is distributed among data contributors during spring 2027.
Suggested considerations
- Trading venues and other potential data contributors should consider modelling how alternative allocation metrics, including data contribution, trading activity, quote quality or coverage measures, could affect their expected income-sharing receipts.
- Prospective equity CTP bidders should consider the proposed distribution methodology, the five-year concession structure and the resulting revenue, accounting, data-governance and contractual controls in procurement and operating models.
- CTPs and firms providing critical technology or data services to CTPs should map operational incidents against the PS26/2 thresholds and assess whether current escalation, evidence retention and regulatory-notification procedures can support reporting as soon as practicable.
- CTPs should consider whether their incident-management playbooks distinguish standard and enhanced reporting, capture significant status changes and support submissions through the FCA’s prescribed reporting channel.
- Affected stakeholders should consider submitting responses to the FCA consultation by 17 December 2026, particularly on allocation fairness, data-contribution measurement, treatment of different contributor classes and the operational burden of enhanced incident reporting.
- Compliance teams may wish to track the early-2027 Feedback Statement on the income metric and percentage, the spring-2027 Policy Statement on distribution rules and the separate final rules on systematic-internaliser quotes.
What changed
The FCA proposes to add Handbook rules and guidance governing how the portion of equity CTP income specified in the five-year concession agreement is allocated among data contributors. The proposed allocation rules would apply regardless of the income metric or percentage ultimately specified in that agreement; the FCA plans to confirm the income-sharing percentage and metric in an early-2027 Feedback Statement and the distribution rules in a spring-2027 Policy Statement. The FCA also proposes to extend enhanced operational incident reporting requirements to all consolidated tape providers, building on PS26/2 and associated guidance. The underlying incident framework uses thresholds relating to intolerable consumer harm, the safety and soundness of the firm or other market participants, an
Compliance impact
This is a consultation rather than a final rule, so it does not yet create the proposed allocation obligations or amend the final incident-reporting framework. Its practical significance is nevertheless high for CTPs, venues, APAs and SIs because it may determine future revenue entitlements, data-contribution incentives, contractual controls and operational reporting processes; the final PS26/2 in
Who is affected
Related regulations
References
AI-generated analysis. May contain errors or omissions — verify with the original FCA source before acting. Full disclaimer.
What the FCA said
We're consulting on how the equity consolidated tape provider (CTP) should share income with data contributors, and enhanced operational incident reporting requirements for all CTPs. ... Read CP26/39 (PDF)We’re introducing an equity CT to bring together and distribute UK trading data in a single, comprehensive…
Extract from FCA . Read the full notice at the source for the authoritative text.