The Financial Services Authority has formally announced
plans to require the 30,000 financial firms it regulates to submit
information electronically.
As reported by Computer Weekly last month, the new rules will be
phased in from April 2005, requiring financial services firms to
send compliance information to the City regulator electronically
using a data standard known as XBRL. Firms have the choice of
filling in an online form or direct system-to-system
transfer.
Most compliance information currently received by the FSA, such as
information on suspect transactions, is paper-based.
The electronic reporting standard will make market regulation more
effective and cut administration costs for firms, the FSA said. The
XBRL standard will also play a key role in the introduction of
international accounting standards from the beginning of 2005.
