About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

FOW Tradedata Launches MiFID Compliant Futures and Options Symbology

Subscribe to our newsletter

Originally appeared in MiFID Monitor

Futures and options reference data vendor FOW Tradedata has added symbology for prescribed European futures and options markets under MiFID’s mandatory transaction reporting requirements to its Xymbology service of Alternative Instrument Identification (AII).

Gregg Whitbread, product manager for Xymbology, explains: “It was a natural extension of FOW Tradedata’s service offering to build the AII data feed after being in the business for a number of years providing mandatory transaction data for exchange listed futures and options to both the regulator and UK regulated parties.”

The more extensive requirement under MiFID to passport transaction records across and to view concentrated trading within EU jurisdictions demands not only uniform instrument symbology, but also its consistent application along the reporting chain. “When it became clear some years ago that the transaction reporting process would change under MiFID, we monitored communications closely in order to understand how these would manifest themselves, how this differed from existing requirements and what we would need to do to ensure that we were in a position to provide the mandatory reportable content for AII,” says Whitbread.

“We began working on the project in the third quarter of 2007, when details were published specifying the attributes that the AII was composed of, and completed the development in July 2008,” he continues. “It was essential that we completed the development by the third quarter of 2008 in order to ensure that we were in a position to provide the content well in advance of the anticipated date for AII reporting of November 2008.”

In terms of the integration, all of the markets and attributes from which the AII is composed were already part of our existing data collection process, says Whitbread. This made building the feed a relatively straightforward process once the requirement was clearly understood, he explains.

According to the vendor, the adoption by the industry of the AII as an enriched data field for key markets will facilitate the process of transaction reporting within an automated environment capable of handling increases in trade volumes. Whitbread adds: “Clients using the existing range of Xymbology products have already reduced costs through more efficient transaction processing and have gained tangible competitive advantage in the market place.”

He continues: “It’s essential that the attributes which form the AII are applied consistently along the reporting chain, so the feed will be of interest to all participants across the EU charged with delivering MiFID compliance whether they are the regulator, a competent authority, an approved reporting mechanism or a trading firm.”

According to Whitbread, a subscription to this service will provide a client with a consolidated feed including all of the attributes required to report trading activity in the determined asset classes on AII markets, which can be delivered on a daily basis and used as either a primary or validating feed.

FOW Tradedata entered into a strategic collaboration with the London Stock Exchange last year to bring Sedol instrument codes, in addition to other identification codes used within the industry, fully into the futures and options market.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: Sponsored by FundGuard: NAV Resilience Under DORA, A Year of Lessons Learned

Date: 25 February 2026 Time: 10:00am ET / 3:00pm London / 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 minutes The EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) came into force a year ago, and is reshaping how asset managers, asset owners and fund service providers think about operational risk. While DORA’s focus is squarely on ICT resilience and third-party...

BLOG

Global Regulators Turn Up Heat on Exaggerated AI Claims

Supervisors on both sides of the Atlantic are no longer content with soft warnings about artificial intelligence (AI) hype. From the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the United Kingdom’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the direction of travel is clear: say what you do, do what you say – and prove it. Regulators...

EVENT

Eagle Alpha Alternative Data Conference, London, hosted by A-Team Group

Now in its 8th year, the Eagle Alpha Alternative Data Conference managed by A-Team Group, is the premier content forum and networking event for investment firms and hedge funds.

GUIDE

Regulatory Data Handbook 2025 – Thirteenth Edition

Welcome to the thirteenth edition of A-Team Group’s Regulatory Data Handbook, a unique and practical guide to capital markets regulation, regulatory change, and the data and data management requirements of compliance across Europe, the UK, US and Asia-Pacific. This year’s edition lands at a moment of accelerating regulatory divergence and intensifying data focused supervision. Inside,...