The City investment banks that set up the MiFID-compliant trade reporting system Boat are selling their stakes in the venture to Markit, the market data vendor that manages the platform, according to press reports.
The Boat platform was established by ABN Amro, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and UBS for the collection and sale of trading data following the introduction of EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) in November.
According to a Reuters report, which cites "people familiar with the matter", the banks are looking to spin-off Boat "to make the platform more independent".
The sources did not disclose the value of the stake, says the report.
A spokeswoman at Markit declined to comment and respond to Finextra's questions on the speculation.
The Boat system - which collects, validates, stores, manages and distributes European equity quote and trade report data - by-passes those operated by the LSE and other European exchanges. Cinnober provided the technology for the platform and provides hosting and operational services while Markit manages nearly all the business operations for member banks.
Markit's Web site states that more than 22 investment houses now use Boat - which was launched last November - to meet over the counter equity reporting obligations required by MiFID.