FCA calls for smarter regulatory reporting
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is looking for views on how technology can help firms meet their regulatory reporting requirements and potentially improve the quality of the information they provide.
Last year the FCA and the Bank of England (BoE) held a two-week TechSprint to examine how technology can make the current system of regulatory reporting more “accurate, efficient and consistent”. All regulated firms submit data to the FCA based on their financial activities.
At its two-week TechSprint, participants developed a proof of concept (PoC) which the FCA say could make regulatory reporting requirements machine-readable and executable. This means that firms could map the reporting requirements directly to the data that they hold, creating the potential for “automated, straight-through processing” of regulatory returns.
The FCA claims this could benefit both firms and regulators. As an example, the FCA says this accuracy of data submissions could be improved and their costs reduced, changes to regulatory requirements could be implemented more quickly, and a reduction in compliance costs could lower barriers to entry.
The unveiled Call for Input plan outlined how the PoC was developed. The paper also seeks feedback on the broader issues surrounding the role technology can play in regulatory reporting.
Christopher Woolard, FCA’s executive director of strategy and competition says: “Technology is a powerful shaper of financial regulation, able to make compliance simpler and more efficient. Our TechSprints bring people from across the financial services world together to share their collective knowledge to solve common problems.”
The FCA says its Call for Input will close on 20 June 2018. It will then publish a feedback statement summarising the views received and its proposed next steps in Summer 2018.
You can get more details and provide feedback to the Call for Input here.
