UK - An enhanced transaction cost analysis product aimed at UK pension funds has been launched by TradeShare.

TradeShare TCA - which costs £1,500 (€2,185) per portfolio per year - is designed to "help institutional investors and asset managers better meet ever-expanding regulatory requirements and market demands for transparency of trading costs".

The company says the new system "not only measures costs but also presents users with a real opportunity for reducing them".

It offers more detailed data collected and better analysis, TradeShare said in a release.

"In particular, TradeShare collects information directly from investment managers on each step of a trade, from initial investment decision through to completion.

"By this means, and for the first time, accurate calculations of the effect on costs of delay and slippage are produced, without guesswork or assumptions."

"For the first time in the pensions industry, schemes will now be able to compare on a like-for-like basis with other schemes and discover if they are obtaining best execution," Ken Bumpus, pensions officer for the London Borough of Camden Pension Scheme, was quoted as saying.

"Such information is a very powerful tool for both schemes and their external asset managers."

Meanwhile, French business school EDHEC is to conduct a pan-European survey of transaction cost analysis.

EDHEC-Risk Advisory, the consultancy arm of the EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre, said: "The survey is being carried out in conjunction with the global equities business unit of HSBC Corporate, Investment Banking and Markets."