FCA Cuts More Regulatory Returns — 36,000 Firms Freed From Nil-Return Churn
The FCA has taken another swing at unnecessary reporting, and this time the blow has landed squarely on one of the industry’s greatest annoyances: the nil return.
As of 28 August 2025, around 36,000 firms — an estimated 95% of all authorised firms — no longer need to file a REP008 nil return when they have nothing to report on disciplinary action for conduct-rules staff. In simple terms: if nothing happened, nothing needs to be submitted. A rare but welcome outbreak of common sense.
This builds on the FCA’s earlier clean-up operation in April, where three other low-value returns were removed for 16,000 firms. Put together, more than 50,000 firms have benefited from regulatory housekeeping in 2025 — making this one of the most extensive filing simplification efforts we’ve seen in years.
What Has Actually Been Removed?
Rather than give you a wall of bullet points, here’s what’s changed — and why it matters — in plain English.
The headline change is the end of REP008 nil returns. Previously, firms had to log onto Gabriel (or RegData, for those who upgraded) just to confirm that absolutely nothing had taken place. Now, silence is accepted as an answer.
Alongside that, the FCA has retired a couple of legacy reports that had long outlived their usefulness — including the REP022 General Insurance Pricing Attestation, a leftover from past pricing reforms, and complaints reporting for Retail Investment Advisers, which was delivering very little supervisory value.
There’s also been a softening of REP009, the Consumer Buy-to-Let Mortgage Data return, with the frequency reduced to something more proportionate given the risk level in that market.
And earlier in the year, three other low-impact data collections were removed altogether as part of the FCA’s commitment in response to the Prime Minister’s growth letter.
Put together, it looks something like this:
36,000 firms relieved from REP008 nil returns (August)
16,000 firms benefited from three returns removed earlier in the year (April)
50,000+ firms enjoying a lighter regulatory burden overall
Roughly 95% of the industry touched by at least one of these changes
If regulatory reporting were a gym membership, this would be the moment most firms realise they’re finally allowed to stop attending compulsory yoga classes.
Why the FCA Is Doing This
Jessica Rusu, the FCA’s Chief Data, Innovation and Intelligence Officer, put it succinctly:
“We only ask for the data we need… Our focus is on collecting information that adds real value.”
It’s all part of the FCA’s Transforming Data Collection programme — the multi-year effort to modernise reporting, cut duplication, and challenge whether certain data collections should exist at all.
The regulator has also launched My FCA, a consolidated login system intended to bring all regulatory tasks under one digital roof. Whether this becomes the FCA’s “smart home” moment or just another password to remember remains to be seen, but the ambition is there.
Impact on FinTechs, Payment Institutions and High-Growth Firms
For most authorised firms — particularly SPIs, APIs, EMIs and tech-led challenger financial businesses — these changes make a meaningful difference.
Fewer pointless returns means fewer calendar alerts, fewer staff hours sunk into admin, and fewer chances to accidentally miss something that shouldn’t need submitting in the first place.
Lower overheads help scaling firms redirect time and money into product and growth rather than bureaucracy.
Clearer supervisory focus means regulators spend more time reviewing substance and less time sorting through empty forms.
For smaller firms where the head of compliance is also the unofficial IT helpdesk and occasionally the HR department, this is not a small win.
A Regulator Showing Its Working
When you strip out low-value reporting, you get three immediate benefits:
Reduced compliance cost
Improved clarity
More meaningful regulatory engagement
It’s a welcome shift toward proportionate regulation and a signal that the FCA is willing to challenge legacy processes — something that has not always been its biggest strength.
Quiet as it may seem, this could mark the start of a healthier dynamic between firms and the regulator: less obsession with box-ticking, and more focus on whether firms are actually doing the right thing.
And frankly, it’s about time.
How AnyAccount Helps
At AnyAccount Ltd, we support FinTech start-ups and scaling businesses with:
Regulatory reporting strategy and optimisation
End-to-end FCA returns management (REP001–REP018 and beyond)
Governance structures aligned to UK company law
Compliance monitoring frameworks and regulatory automation
Filing reviews, readiness checks, and efficiency audits
If you’d prefer to spend fewer evenings wrestling with Gabriel returns — and avoid discovering “late submission fees” the hard way — speak to us. We help firms implement a regulatory reporting process that is clean, efficient and proportionate.
