The UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) has taken delivery of an historical database of transactions worth a total of $19.8 trillion (€16.9 trillion) to analyse commissions, market impact and timing costs.

The data, covering institutional trading costs across 25 world markets including the UK, US, Japan, France, Germany and emerging markets such as India and South Africa, covers the period from the first quarter of 1998 to the fourth quarter of 2002.