The Financial Conduct Authority has said it plans to deliver a more “intuitive” form design across its regulatory returns, which includes introducing “tips and hints”, to make data submission “simpler, faster and more valuable”.
In a Dear CEO letter yesterday (July 21), the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority outlined plans to transform data collection for the rest of the year.
The letter reiterated how it aims to ensure that data collected by both the Bank of England and the FCA is done at the lowest possible cost to the industry.
Referring to the joint transformation programme that has been set up with more than 100 participants from over 40 regulated firms, the letter said that the FCA and PRA are pleased with the level of engagement in the first year of the programme.
Signed by PRA deputy governor and chief executive, Sam Woods and FCA chief executive, Nikhil Rathi, the letter said that both organisations have a “good understanding of the challenges and opportunities” that they face in data collection.
“We strongly believe that continued collaboration with industry is the best way to deliver long-term benefits in this area,” the letter said.
In response to the recommendations for data collection changes, the FCA and PRA said they will move forward a number of data collection initiatives.
In addition to simplifying the form design, the two regulators will implement a new landing page and a set of reporting instructions for a statistical reporting form to make it easier for firms to understand the requirements.
The City watchdog also announced that it will be exploring the concept of a unified data collection portal for regulated firms to interact with regulators, which it believes has the potential to be “a transformative change”.
The letter outlined that the FCA and PRA are extending their teams to support this ongoing work with firms expected to receive the benefit of the changes by July 2023.
Earlier this week, the FCA said it started an update on its website to make it easier for users to navigate around.
jane.matthews@ft.com
