FCA Cuts £108m in Reporting Costs but CFDs Stay in Scope

The FCA has finalised rules cutting annual UK transaction reporting costs by £108 million, from £493 million to roughly £385 million. Confirmed on 4 August 2026 in PS26/15, the overhaul takes effect on 3 April 2028, affecting 750 investment firms and 34 trading venues. A flexible supervisory approach applies from 3 August 2026.

What Is Changing

Reporting fields drop from 65 to 52. FX derivatives are removed, cutting costs for more than 400 UK firms. About seven million instruments tradeable only on EU venues leave scope, saving roughly £32 million a year. Historical error correction shrinks from five years to three, cutting resubmissions by about one third. The FCA is making its FIRDS system the definitive source for reportability, with regulatory protection for firms relying on it. Draft schema and validation rules are due in October 2026.

CFDs Stay Under Watch

CFDs and spread bets remain in scope. The FCA said these leveraged products are “highly susceptible to market abuse” and its market integrity work depends on proactive surveillance. It cited June 2025 convictions of two individuals for insider dealing and money laundering who used CFDs to profit from share price falls, activity spotted through transaction reports. Therese Chambers, FCA joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, called transaction reports “the backbone of our market oversight work.”

Lighter rules do not mean lighter enforcement. The FCA fined Infinox Capital £99,200 in January 2025 over 46,053 unreported transactions, its first UK MiFIR enforcement action, and contacted more than 130 firms over reporting errors. The regulator receives over seven billion MiFID reports annually.

Costs, Risks and Harmonisation

One-off implementation costs are estimated at £148.8 million, mostly IT work, against £942.8 million in ten-year benefits. A gap analysis was costed at £40,000 for a large firm and £2,400 for a small one. Maria Fritzsche of PIMFA welcomed the package, singling out the expanded corporate actions exemption, the FIRDS golden-source decision, and reduced back-reporting.

The FCA assumes the EU streamlines its own regime; without alignment, firms running one system across both jurisdictions would have to split their reporting. Removing FX derivatives also cuts visibility over 95 UK branches of third-country firms reporting under UK MiFIR but not UK EMIR.

In April, the FCA and Bank of England launched a joint taskforce on transaction and post-trade reporting. The cross-industry body, with over 30 participants from major banks, asset managers and exchanges, held its inaugural meeting in July 2026. HM Treasury is involved in the push to remove duplication across UK MiFIR, UK EMIR and UK SFTR.