Firms to prepare for phased move to FCA’s new data collection platform RegData

We are now preparing to gradually move firms across to our new data collection platform, which replaces Gabriel.

We’re pleased to announce that the new name of the platform is RegData. Since April, firms have been registering for RegData through a one-off activity when accessing Gabriel.

Moving firms to RegData from Gabriel

We’ll be moving firms and their users to RegData in groups to minimise the impact this has on them. Firms’ moving dates will be determined by the nature of their reporting obligations and reporting schedules.

Firms will not be able to access RegData until they and their users’ data have been moved from Gabriel. We’ll email firms’ principal user and associated users 3 weeks before their moving date, with reminders 5 days and 1 day to go. Compliance consultants will receive reminders for every firm their user account is currently associated with in Gabriel.

Key actions for firms

In advance of their moving date, we’re asking firms to check they have:

  • up-to-date contact details in Gabriel
  • nominated the correct principal user and assigned administrator rights correctly in Gabriel
  • accurate information in Gabriel about all other active users – with any non-active users disabled

Firms should continue to use Gabriel, using their existing Gabriel login details, until their firm has been moved to the new platform. Users that haven’t registered yet will still be able to do so when they next log in to Gabriel.

There will be no change to the way firms currently provide data to us.

What’s different in RegData

Our feedback from Gabriel users last year indicated 3 main areas for improvement:

  • accessing Gabriel, particularly the speed of the system and getting support
  • viewing your Gabriel reporting schedule, especially the need to improve the schedule layout and submission history
  • submitting data and the importance of guidance and data validation

We took this feedback into account, and while RegData will look similar to Gabriel there will be a number of improvements. It will be faster and more accessible, the system will be able to send notifications for multiple users and the reporting schedules will be more user friendly. RegData saves a user’s progress in data items automatically every 2 minutes, and includes useful help text throughout the platform.

RegData is part of our Data Strategy which sets out how we plan to harness the power of data and advanced analytics to transform financial regulation.

Keeping firms informed

We will keep firms regularly updated on developments via our website and other communications channels, including Regulation Round-up. We’ll set out well in advance any actions firms need to take, and continue involving firms and other Gabriel users in our plans for delivering and optimising RegData.