Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, the FCA, has found that investors are being forced to pay for certain types of trading data that should be available for free, as it works to introduce more competition into the market.

In a report released on March 2, the regulator found that wholesale financial data markets were not functioning well, that some trading markets had too few competing companies, that the way data was often sold was complex, and that "despite regulations requiring the free distribution of delayed data, many users ended up having no choice but to pay for it."

The FCA said on Thursday that the preliminary report had prompted a study that would investigate "potential competition issues" in the market for services from benchmarking, credit rating data and market data providers, and whether this would mean higher costs for investors.

Sheldon Mills, executive director of consumer and competition at the FCA, said providing competition on wholesale data was important to help foster "competition and innovation that will help boost the UK economy and deliver better outcomes for investors".

"Market data is obviously an important area and we look forward to seeing what this is about and working with the FCA," London Stock Exchange Group Chief Executive David Schwimmer said on Thursday's earnings call. "Globally, the data market is very competitive, so don't worry."