The FCA is making data reporting more proportionate by reducing and removing regulatory returns for 95% of all authorised firms.
36,000 firms will now no longer need to submit a nil return when completing certain tasks relating to disciplinary action (REP008), saving them time and reducing burden.
Jessica Rusu, chief data, innovation and intelligence officer at the FCA, said: "We only ask for the data we need, making sure it's proportionate, to reduce unnecessary burdens. Our focus is on collecting information that adds real value, while making it easier for firms to meet their regulatory obligations."
As part of the FCA's 'Transforming Data Collection' programme, it consulted in June 2024 to:
- Decommission REP022 (General Insurance Pricing Attestation) and retail investment advisers (RIA) complaints.
- Reduce the frequency of reporting for REP009 (Consumer Buy-To-Let Mortgage Aggregated Data).
- Remove the requirement to submit nil returns for REP008 (Notification of Disciplinary Action relating to conduct rules staff – other than senior manager functions).
This is in addition to three returns removed earlier in 2025, reducing burden for 16,000 firms.
In addition, the FCA is making it easier for firms to find up-to-date supervisory communications on its website.
The regulator is simplifying its multi-firm and thematic reviews and labelling those published before 2022 as 'historical', which will affect around 80% of the reviews. Historical documents will remain publicly accessible, using existing links.
Announcing upcoming projects, the FCA announced that it will soon be publishing a small number of market reports, instead of issuing 'Dear CEO' or portfolio letters. These will include information relevant to different types of firms and insights from its supervisory work.
