FCA
Financial Conduct Authority (UK)
FCA PS26/8 finalises annual Retail Banking Business Models data return
Published
Jan 12, 2026
Effective
Jun 1, 2026
Topics
Retail banking, Building societies, Regulatory reporting, RegData, Business model monitoring, Data collection
Executive Summary
The FCA published Policy Statement PS26/8 on 29 May 2026, finalising the move of Retail Banking Business Models (R2B2) data collection from an ad hoc supervisory exercise into an annual regulatory return. The new rules come into force on 1 June 2026, and firms will access the annual return through the FCA’s RegData platform. The FCA says it has previously collected R2B2 data four times on an ad hoc basis, covering financial and volume-based data across banks’ and building societies’ business models, plus off-the-shelf information. The change is intended to give the FCA more timely market intelligence, support analysis of product-segment economics and competitive dynamics, and reduce disruption caused by unpredictable requests. The direct implementation impact is on UK retail banks and building societies that must operationalise an annual submission process, assign ownership, and prepare repeatable data extraction and quality assurance controls. The FCA also notes it has reduced datapoints and fixed technological issues following industry engagement.
What Changed
Previous
R2B2 data was collected on an ad hoc basis, with the FCA stating it had run the collection four times.
New
R2B2 data will be collected through an annual regulatory return.
Previous
The source describes prior collections as ad hoc requests rather than a standing annual RegData return.
New
Firms access the annual return through RegData.
Previous
Infrequent ad hoc collections made it challenging for the FCA to keep its understanding of the retail banking market up to date.
New
Annual availability is intended to support effective and timely FCA decisions.
Previous
Ad hoc requests were burdensome for firms and made planning, resource allocation and automation difficult.
New
A scheduled annual return should allow firms to plan resources and automate repeatable reporting processes.
Previous
The source indicates previous ad hoc requests had operational and technological challenges for firms.
New
The final approach reflects reduced datapoints and technology fixes following industry engagement.
Business Impact
Who is affected
Directly affected
retail banks and building societies.
Indirectly affected
industry trade bodies and other regulators.
Jurisdictions
United Kingdom
Business processes
Regulatory reporting calendar and obligations inventory, RegData access, user permissions and submission workflow, Retail banking finance and volume data extraction, Business model, product-segment and profitability analysis controls, Data quality assurance, sign-off and evidence retention, Off-the-shelf information request management
Estimated effort
Medium
Compliance risk
Medium
Affected Reports
| Field | Validation rule |
|---|
Recommended Actions
- 1Confirmed actionStep 1 of 7
update the regulatory obligations inventory and reporting calendar to reflect the R2B2 annual return and the 1 June 2026 rules commencement.
- 2Confirmed actionStep 2 of 7
verify which internal entities, retail banking businesses and building society operations are within the R2B2 reporting population described by the FCA policy statement and associated return instructions when available in RegData.
- 3AI generatedStep 3 of 7
assign accountable owners across regulatory reporting, finance, product analytics and retail banking strategy for the annual R2B2 submission.
- 4AI generatedStep 4 of 7
review previous ad hoc R2B2 submissions to identify reusable data sources, calculations, approvals and evidence packs for the annual process.
- 5AI generatedStep 5 of 7
prepare RegData access, roles and maker-checker controls before the first annual submission window appears in the platform.
- 6AI generatedStep 6 of 7
build data-quality checks for the financial, volume-based and off-the-shelf information components explicitly described by the FCA.
- 7AI generatedStep 7 of 7
monitor FCA RegData and any return-specific guidance for submission deadlines, validation rules or template instructions not specified on the PS26/8 webpage.
Timeline
other
Jan 14, 2026
FCA consultation on Retail Banking Business Models data opened.
consultation deadline
Mar 4, 2026
Consultation closed.
publication
May 29, 2026
FCA published Policy Statement PS26/8: Retail Banking Business Models data.
effective date
Jun 1, 2026
New rules come into force.
Sources
AI-generated analysis is based on the following primary sources. Always verify against the official publication.
- Policy Statement webpageFinancial Conduct AuthorityMay 29, 2026PS26/8: Retail Banking Business Models data ↗
https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/policy-statements/ps26-8-retail-banking-business-models-data
- Consultation Paper webpageFinancial Conduct AuthorityJan 14, 2026CP26/3: Retail Banking Business Models data ↗
https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/consultation-papers/cp26-3-retail-banking-business-models-data
- Regulatory reporting platform webpageFinancial Conduct AuthorityDate not specifiedRegData ↗
https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/regdata
Related Evidence
Verified source support for this analysis
The evidence agent checks whether the drafted finding is supported by official publications and relevant public source material.
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