On 29 May 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Policy Statement 26/8: Retail banking business models data (PS26/8).
Background
In January 2026, the FCA consulted on transforming a previously ad hoc series of retail banking business models (R2B2) data collections into an annual regulatory return. Under the proposals firms would supply core financial data comprising of product and sub-product level financial and volumetric information on residential mortgages, personal banking, personal lending, small business banking and lending, other business banking and lending and wholesale funding. The FCA would also include an ‘off-the-shelf’ request for firms to provide various readily available business documents.
Summary
In PS26/8, the FCA sets out its final rules and guidance for the R2B2 return. It explains that most respondents agreed with the consultation proposals in relation to frequency of collection, alignment with firms’ internal accounting periods and annual publication of relevant statistics. However, the FCA also set out that it has made some changes following feedback aimed at making the rules clearer and more proportionate, including:
- Reconciliation: The FCA have removed from the template a formula driven reconciliation between product level data and whole business profit and loss and renamed this section ‘whole business’ to better reflect its nature and how it will be used.
- Streamlining off the shelf document request: This request has been amended to focus more on the business as a whole rather than individual products.
- Rule amendments on group reporting requirements: The FCA have sought to better align these rules with how firms report financial information, for example to enable parent firms to include data in respect of all entities they prepare group accounts for.
- Clarifications: The rules have bene clarified to make clear that product level data and off the shelf data required only relates to products firms provide to UK customers.
Next steps
The new rules come into force on 1 June 2026.
The FCA will engage with industry in the run up to the deadline for the first submission at the end of November 2026.