Global network provider BSO has teamed up with software vendor emagine to distribute synchronised time in order for market participants to accurately timestamp their trades to comply with MiFID II.

The partnership integrates emagine’s Time as a Service (TaaS) suite with the resilience and reliability of BSO’s global low-latency network to provide an ideal platform for execution and fully traceable time to market makers. With the implementation deadline upon us, this solution will be welcomed by firms looking to timestamp their trades within 100-microseconds. Firms who fail to identify the exact point at which a trade has been timestamped in line with coordinated universal time (UTC), are at risk of paying substantial fines under MiFID II (RTS-25).

Beyond Europe, BSO’s vast infrastructure means emagine can use minimal hardware to make their TaaS offering truly global. This ensures that traders operating across North America and APAC can also trace their trades to UTC.

Commenting on the partnership, Emmanuel Pellé, BSO’s chief operations officer said: “As market makers continue to look for faster ways to trade, having an accurate timestamp is imperative. Electronic trading activity not only needs to be measured in terms of latency, it also needs to be forensically assessed and monitored.

“Our tie up with emagine enables market makers and trading venue operators to trace their trades to UTC with the utmost accuracy to ensure compliance with MiFID II (RTS-25).”

Jean-François Bodin, CEO of emagine, added: “With regulatory reviews of trade traceability to be carried out at least once a year, having an all-encompassing timestamping offering has never been more important. But it is not just about MiFID II compliance. BSO’s expertise in global connectivity coupled with the resiliency of our system, also helps firms prepare for similar rules once they come into effect across other parts of the world.”

The solution also offers a number of other benefits beyond regulatory reporting. These include faster service delivery times on any part of the global network, additional bandwidth provisions, being able to work on existing network infrastructure without requiring upgrades, as well as cost savings on co-location and data center space.