The participating stock exchanges have signed a term sheet--a nonbinding agreement--to establish a joint venture to evaluate and prepare an application as a consolidated tape provider. A consolidated tape is an electronic system that collects real-time data listed on exchanges--such as sale, trade, price or volume data--and distributes it to investors.

The project will focus on providing a tape that delivers comprehensive, standardised and consistent market data, and will help contribute to developing a capital markets union, said the announcement.

According to the European Commission, the aim of the capital markets union is to get investments and savings flowing across the EU so that the money can benefit consumers, investors and companies, regardless of where they are located.

The initiative involves 14 European exchange groups, present in 26 member states of the European Union (all except Slovakia).

Participants include the Athens, Bucharest, Budapest, Bulgarian, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, and Warsaw stock exchanges, Deutsche Boerse Group, Euronext (incorporating Borsa Italiana, Euronext Amsterdam, Euronext Brussels, Euronext Dublin, Euronext Lisbon, Euronext Paris, Oslo Børs), Nasdaq (incorporating Nasdaq Stockholm, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Iceland, Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius), SIX Group (incorporating BME Exchange), Wiener Börse (incorporating Prague and Vienna stock exchanges), and the Zagreb stock exchange (including Ljubljana stock exchange).