Canadian dealers, CanDeal team up on bond data

By Jennifer Kwan

TORONTO, April 28 (Reuters) - Eight of Canada's largest bond dealers said on Tuesday they will team up to provide consolidated bond pricing data as pressure grows to make the over-the-counter market more transparent.

The group, which includes the investment dealer arms of Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) and Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO: Quote, Profile, Research), will partner with online bond trading system operator CanDeal to create CanMarket Data, which will offer the pricing information.

The move comes nearly two weeks after the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada, a self-regulatory body, proposed rules that would make bond pricing in Canada more transparent. [ID:nN17333304]

"There is a need for the country, the marketplace to have some credible one-source information for Canadian bond pricing data," said Jayson Horner, chief executive officer of CanDeal.

"The idea here is really to put an end to, what I would call, some fragmentation that exists in the market."

Unlike equity markets, there is no central exchange for bonds, making it harder for investors to know if they've received a reasonable price when buying and selling.

As well, many investors do not know how much commission they are paying to buy and sell bonds because the amount is often embedded in the price.

On April 17, regulators proposed new rules for bond trading designed to create more transparency. [ID:nN17445662]