FCA Trade Reporting: Industry Concerns Over New Proposals

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is attempting to streamline transaction reporting requirements for financial firms, aiming to reduce costs and improve data quality. However, the proposals, unveiled in late November 2025, are already facing skepticism from both the buy-side and sell-side, raising questions about their ultimate effectiveness.

The FCA estimates the changes will reduce the annual cost of MiFID transaction reporting from £493 million to approximately £385 million, a net saving of £108 million for the industry. Key proposals include removing foreign exchange derivatives from reporting requirements – impacting over 400 firms – and eliminating reporting obligations for six million financial instruments traded solely on EU venues. The regulator also intends to shorten the correction period for historical reporting errors from five to three years.

Despite the potential for cost savings, industry participants express concerns that the FCA’s focus on “single-sided” reporting – where only the buyer or seller, but not both, is required to report a transaction – may not deliver the intended benefits. According to sources, buy-side firms are unlikely to adopt the single-sided approach, while dealers are hesitant to offer it to their clients.

The core of the issue lies in the complexities of ensuring accurate and complete reporting under a single-sided regime. Buy-side firms, responsible for verifying the accuracy of reports submitted on their behalf, are reportedly unwilling to take on the additional risk and operational burden. Dealers, for their part, are reluctant to offer a service that could potentially expose them to regulatory scrutiny if the buy-side fails to report correctly.

The FCA’s proposals come as part of a broader effort to refine the UK’s post-Brexit financial regulations. The current MiFID transaction reporting rules were initially introduced in 2018 and onshored from the EU in December 2020. The regulator acknowledges the significant costs associated with these rules – over 7 billion MiFID transaction reports are received annually – and aims to create a more proportionate and efficient system.

Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA, emphasized the importance of transaction reporting for detecting financial crime and monitoring market resilience. “But You can be smarter,” she stated, “and by clarifying and streamlining requirements we expect to receive more accurate and complete reports.” The FCA intends to work with the Bank of England and the Treasury to eliminate unnecessary duplication in transaction and post-trade reporting.

Further complicating the landscape is the FCA’s broader overhaul of transaction reporting, outlined in Consultation Paper CP25/32. This includes removing 13 redundant transaction reporting fields, such as option type and maturity date, and harmonizing terminology with UK EMIR by replacing the concept of a “complex trade” with “package transaction.” The definition of a “package transaction” will be updated, requiring separate reports for each financial instrument involved, linked by a specific identifier. Two new fields will also be introduced for package transactions.

The FCA anticipates publishing final rules in the second half of 2026, with an 18-month implementation window following that. This timeline suggests firms will need to begin preparing for the changes well in advance, despite the current uncertainty surrounding the single-sided reporting proposals.

While the FCA’s intentions are clear – to reduce costs and improve data quality – the industry’s lukewarm reception to the single-sided reporting element suggests a potential disconnect between the regulator’s vision and the practical realities of implementation. Whether the proposed changes will ultimately deliver the anticipated £108 million in annual savings remains to be seen, and will likely depend on the FCA’s ability to address the concerns of both buy-side and sell-side firms.

The changes also reflect a broader trend towards a more UK-focused regulatory regime, designed to reduce complexity and support economic growth. However, the success of this approach will hinge on striking a balance between reducing the regulatory burden and maintaining the integrity and transparency of the UK’s financial markets.