The Financial Conduct Authority has finalised rules to cut firms’ transaction reporting costs by over £100 million a year.
The City watchdog said the reporting requirements, due to come into effect on 3 April 2028, will be “smarter, simpler and more proportionate.”
Transaction reports are critical to the FCA’s ability to detect and investigate market abuse, monitor market functioning and supervise firms effectively. It said the new rules will ensure it continues to receive accurate, high-quality data, while eliminating duplicative or low-value reporting.
By removing unnecessary reporting, the changes will reduce regulatory burden and save firms more than £100 million a year, the regulator said.
Under the new rules, the number of transaction reporting fields will be cut from 65 to 52.
Foreign exchange derivatives will be removed from reporting requirements, reducing costs for over 400 firms, while removing reporting requirements for seven million financial instruments including equities, bonds and certain derivatives that are only traded on EU trading venues will save firms around £32 million annually.
In addition, the period for correcting historical reporting errors will be reduced from five to three years.
Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said: “Transaction reports are the backbone of our market oversight work — they help us catch financial crime, monitor market stability and supervise firms effectively.
“By taking a smarter, streamlined approach to reporting, we’re giving firms meaningful cost relief while ensuring we continue to receive the accurate, high-quality data that keeps UK markets clean and competitive.”
