The FCA’s 2026/27 Work Programme makes clear that data will continue to shape how financial services firms are regulated, supervised and assessed. In pursuit of its ambition to become a ‘smarter’ regulator, the FCA is investing in digital and data capabilities, using AI across regulatory workflows, and improving how information is collected from firms.
For effective regulatory reporting, financial resilience, management information and business planning, data must be accurate, consistent and timely. If finance teams work with incomplete data or fragmented systems, it can slow how quickly the business responds to regulatory and commercial questions.
The FCA is also looking to improve the experience for firms by simplifying and digitising forms, reducing unnecessary returns, and testing data feeds to reduce manual effort. Whilst these changes may reduce some administrative burden over time, they also highlight the importance of having reliable data at source.
As a result, better data is becoming a defining capability for finance teams, affecting how firms report, evidence decisions and use financial information to plan and grow their operations.
The FCA’s 2026/27 Work Programme sets out four strategic priorities:
Data is central to the first of these priorities, with the regulator aiming to use digital and data capabilities to help colleagues, firms and consumers make smarter and faster decisions.
Continued investment in data and technology is central to these priorities, as the FCA has said it will use data analytics and digital tools to identify the greatest threats more quickly and improve internal processes.
In practice, this change of direction is likely to be felt in the way information is submitted, reviewed and challenged, creating a practical challenge for finance functions; better regulatory systems will only reduce the burden where firms can provide information that is complete, accurate and easy to trace. If data needs to be corrected, reconciled or explained before it can be used, finance teams may continue to carry the cost through manual checks and delayed reporting.
Finance teams are directly affected by this shift, as much of the information regulators rely on is financial or operational.
If data is inconsistent or difficult to trace, reporting becomes slower and less reliable. Finance teams may need to spend more time reconciling figures across systems, reviewing manual adjustments, and explaining variances, which creates additional work and reduces confidence in the information used.
The FCA’s focus on reducing unnecessary data returns and improving data quality does not remove the need for strong internal controls; firms still need to understand their data sources, who owns them, how they are checked, and whether they are accurate.
Over time, better data is likely to become one of the main ways finance functions improve both efficiency and control. Accurate, consistent and timely information can reduce manual work, improve reporting quality and give senior teams greater confidence in the numbers used for planning, financial resilience and performance management.
The FCA’s focus on better data also reflects the cost of poor quality information. In its review of prudential regulatory reporting by MIFIDPRU investment firms, the FCA highlighted that poor quality data can make it harder to identify firms with weak financial resilience and may also indicate weaknesses in systems and controls.
Although this review focused on a specific group of investment firms, the wider lesson is relevant for finance functions across regulated financial services. The FCA found that around 60% of firms passed nearly all of its data quality tests, while around 30% had misreported at points and around 10% were not meeting their reporting requirements. The review also identified issues including inconsistent reporting across multiple data sources, inaccurate implementation of reporting guidance and data entry problems.
The findings highlight how these issues can quickly affect day-to-day operations for finance teams. Poor data quality may result in reporting delays, increased oversight, and reduced confidence in the final regulatory submission. Conversely, better data quality can reduce the amount of correction needed at the end of the reporting process and strengthen the evidence behind financial resilience, governance and control.
Access to better data allows finance teams to provide information that supports planning, resilience and performance management. As the FCA makes greater use of data and technology, firms will need finance functions that can respond with accurate information and clear evidence of how that information has been produced.
If data is consistent and well controlled, finance teams can spend less time correcting information and more time analysing what it shows. It can also support stronger decision-making, as senior teams need financial information they can trust when reviewing performance, assessing risk, or responding to regulatory questions.
As a result, better data is becoming both an operational capability and a reporting requirement, strengthening the connection between reporting, planning, and control, while allowing teams to provide more useful information to the wider business.
To make better use of data, finance functions need to understand how the quality of information is shaped by how it is captured, defined, reconciled, reviewed, and transferred across systems.
Firms need to understand who is responsible for financial data at each stage, how changes are approved and where checks are carried out. Without this, finance teams may continue to correct problems late in the process, rather than addressing the cause of poor data at source.
Consistent definitions are also important; if different measures, categories or assumptions are used across teams, the same information can produce different results, creating avoidable challenges in explaining performance.
The key areas for improvement include:
We work with financial services and insurance firms to improve finance capability, reporting processes and the quality of management information. Our finance transformation support focuses on accuracy, speed, fewer errors and better information for review, decision-making and planning.
Our consultants work alongside finance, risk, compliance, and operational teams to strengthen data ownership, improve reporting controls, reduce manual workarounds, and build clearer evidence of how financial information is produced and reviewed.
Better data gives finance teams greater confidence in the information they provide to senior leaders, regulators and the wider business, and we can support organisations in building the finance capability, structure and control needed to meet these expectations.
Speak to us about strengthening the data, controls and reporting processes behind your finance function.