FCA consults on equity market transparency and SI regime changes (CP26/30). Responses close 16 October 2026.

The FCA published CP26/30 on 31 July 2026. Action required if you are a trading venue, investment firm, or systematic internaliser (SI). If you are none of those, stop here. The consultation closes 16 October 2026.

The paper covers three proposal areas. On trade reporting, the FCA is proposing targeted changes to improve the quality and consistency of post-trade data, which it says has become more important as trading has fragmented across execution mechanisms. On the SI regime (systematic internalisers execute client orders on their own account, outside a trading venue), the FCA is proposing to strengthen the regime, though the specific threshold or criteria changes require reading the full CP text. On market outages, the FCA is consulting on how venues and firms should operate when systems fail, with the aim of supporting more resilient market operation.

The backdrop is the new UK equity consolidated tape, a single feed aggregating post-trade data from across UK venues, which the FCA says makes transparency data quality increasingly important for effective price formation and investor confidence. The FCA is also seeking views on how it should monitor future market structure developments to keep UK equity markets efficient and resilient.

Separately, a related technical standards instrument, FCA 2026/31, comes into force on 28 September 2026. It deletes Article 17 of RTS 1, the inherited EU delegated regulation governing pre- and post-trade transparency calculations for equities, and relocates those provisions into MAR 11A.7 of the FCA Handbook. The FCA characterises this as substantively neutral: the transparency obligations themselves do not change, and firms should expect calculation outcomes to match what RTS 1 produced the day before.

The practical work this creates is reference-mapping rather than recalibration. Internal policies, systems documentation, vendor contracts, and control frameworks that currently cite "Article 17 RTS 1" will need updating to cite the Handbook provision instead. For most firms the exercise is a focused audit of where that citation appears in documentation, not a systems rebuild. Audit trails that span the 28 September changeover will straddle two citation regimes; firms may want to note the transition point in their documentation.

By moving these rules into the Handbook, the FCA can now amend them through its own consultation cycle, independently of the EU's Commission and ESMA process. The substance is identical today; the structural guarantee that it will stay that way no longer exists.

Responses to CP26/30 can be submitted via the FCA's online form, by email to cp26-30@fca.org.uk, or in writing to Priya Kotadia at 12 Endeavour Square, London E20 1JN.

Sources

• Cp26 30 consulation paper supporting equity market transparency considering…fca.org.uk
• api-handbook.fca.org.ukapi-handbook.fca.org.uk
• theindustryspread.comtheindustryspread.com