Transforming data collection – Reporting Transformation Committee meeting – 28 November 2022

The Reporting Transformation Committee will focus on overseeing the design of solutions for parts of the reporting process where the Bank, FCA and reporting firms interact directly. This will cover aspects of modernising reporting instructions and creating a better integrated end-to-end reporting process.
Published on 15 May 2023

Minutes

Introduction and Agenda

AS welcomed all members to the meeting and explained the agenda. He clarified that the purpose of this meeting was to inform participants about phase two of the joint transformation programme (JTP) rather than discussion of any outputs. All members introduced themselves and AS explained that 10 new members had joined the committee, with 10 others re-nominating themselves from phase 1.

Introduction to the Reporting Transformation Committee (RTC)

AS reminded the committee of its Terms of Reference. The RTC is the primary governing body directly overseeing the ongoing activities of the Joint Transformation Programme. He explained that the RTC will provide feedback on the solution design process and ultimately make recommendations to the BoE/FCA at the end of phase 2.

RW explained that in phase 1 the RTC followed a rigid monthly meeting cadence and that, following feedback from the committees and delivery groups, the team is looking to change this for phase 2, using a combination of full committee meetings, workshops and show-and-tells for committee engagement. RW proposed an engagement approach with RTC meetings aligned with delivery work and mentioned that the Data Standards Committee had supported having a fortnightly ‘diary hold’ for workshops and show-and-tells. She asked whether the group would want a similar schedule.

Key discussion points / comments:

• RJ explained that it was important to have enough notice for meetings and that full committee meetings should be put into diaries as soon as possible. SL proposed scheduling the meetings for the same time as the fortnightly hold to ensure members were available.

• AT suggested having a clear forward agenda, so that members know what future meetings will cover.

Action: Secretariat to work on developing a full forward agenda of committee meetings and workshops – the committee has requested a fortnightly hold in the diary for this.

RW explained that the Data Standards Committee and Reporting and Data Standards Transformation Board both had elected industry chairs in phase 1 and that the Secretariat wished to introduce a chair for the Reporting Transformation Committee in phase 2. She clarified the role of the chair and asked that members who wish to nominate themselves should do so by 2nd December via email.

Action: Members to nominate themselves via email for the role of committee chair by 2nd December.

Updates on programme progress

AS gave an overview of the Data Standards Review, which the Data Standards Committee commissioned in phase 1 of the programme. EY are performing the review and will deliver a draft report in mid-December. AS explained that the review aims to understand how standards are currently used in industry and establish best practice for future development and adoption.

CC gave an update on the implementation of phase 1 recommendations for the Financial Resilience Survey use case:

  • Firm portal and home pages – The FCA have commissioned work for discovery and design for the portal, running until March 2023.
  • Firm view at a glance – This work is currently in a discovery phase, with a pilot being taken forward for a small number of firms. It is due to be completed by June 2023.
  • Intuitive form design – This work is in the design phase, with a ‘proof of concept’ to be created for testing in January 2023.
  • Future Financial Resilience Survey – There is an ongoing consultation period around introducing this new return. It is due to be complete by the end of 2023.

Key discussion points / comments:

  • AT requested that there be a regular report on the progress of implementation of the phase 1 use cases, so that the committee can continue to oversee the implementation of the recommendations they made.
  • SL2 emphasised that these recommendations come from the committee, so if changes come up in implementation they should be brought back to the committee

DF gave an update on the implementation of phase 1 recommendations for the Form DQ use case:

  • The Bank of England has committed to delivering valuable change by June 2023 and is on track for delivery of the three recommendations (better reporting landing pages, restructured reporting instructions and counterparty classification standardisation) by June 2023.
  • Work is underway aligning the delivery of the recommendations with internal work streams in the Bank – data collection hub, data inventory and ad-hoc collections.
  • The team is filling roles to increase data, regulatory and service design skills and is developing their implementation approach.

Key discussion points / comments:

  • AT questioned if the BoE/FCA would revisit the longer-term recommendations made by the committees, after the short-term recommendations were implemented by June 2023. AM responded that this would depend on the recommendation – he suggested that for some of the broader recommendations the programme should come back to the committees for discussion before implementation.

Desired outcomes of TDC

AS asked committee members for their views on their current perceptions of the programme, and what is driving these.

Key discussion points / comments:

  • Members commented that generally people were pleased that the programme exists and that there is the opportunity to directly engage with the regulators. They felt that the reaction to the phase 1 recommendations was positive, but that people felt that the changes need to be more ambitious and transformative.
  • AT recommended speaking with previous members of the committee to understand their reasons for leaving the programme.

AS asked committee members for their views on what they want the programme to have achieved by July 2023.

Key discussion points / comments:

  • Members thought that the programme should show a tangible scaling up benefit rather than focusing purely on reforms to individual returns.
  • SL2 said that it is important to understand what prevented the programme from progressing as quickly as the team would have liked, and how to get around these issues to make faster progress in future.
  • AM explained that we look at individual use cases as they are a mechanism for implementing change – if the recommendations from the programme are too broad then it is hard to be as specific with deadlines for implementation.

Phase 2 use cases

AS introduced the phase two use cases and explained that two of the use cases (Commercial Real Estate and the FCA Strategic Review of Prudential Data Collections) are in progress with the other two (Incident and Outsourcing and Third-Party Reporting and Retail Banking Business Model Data) due to begin in early 2023.

LC explained the approach to the programme, which is following the government digital service approach. Work starts with a ‘discovery’ phase of research to fully understand the ‘as-is’ process and any current issues, before focusing in on defining problems and then moving on to developing solutions. She explained that the design approach would be user-centric, with rapid delivery and rapid replanning where needed.

LC went on to give an overview of the FCA Strategic Review of Prudential Data Collections from Solo-Regulated Firms (SRPDC). This use case aims to make it easier for financial firms to meet FCA prudential reporting requirements. She explained the use case is currently in the discovery phase and the team is conducting user research to understand the needs and pain points of users.

AS gave an overview of the Commercial Real Estate (CRE) use case, which is being continued from phase 1. He explained that the use case’s aims, which include ensuring the Bank has timely accurate and actionable data on CRE and eliminating redundant data fields and reports. The use case is currently in the discovery phase, which will run until the end of January 2023.

DPO gave an overview of the Incident and Outsourcing and Third-Party Reporting (IOREP) use case which is part of a public commitment from supervisory authorities to develop joint incident and OATP reporting policies. He explained that the use case is projected to start discovery in February 2023 with the aims of improving data quality whilst reducing the resource and time needed to collect it.

CC gave an overview of the Retail Banking Business Models Data Collection (RBBMD) use case. This looks at a dataset collected on an ad-hoc basis which had the original purpose of studying the retail banking market from a competition perspective. He explained that the discovery phase is due to start in January 2023.

Forward agenda / AOB

AS explained that the next committee meeting would be scheduled shortly depending on the output from discovery but that there would be workshops or show-and-tell sessions in the meantime.

Attendees

Richard Adnett (RA), Royal London Group

Nathan Beverley (NB), Pension Insurance Corporation

Chris Caldwell (CC), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) (Data Collection Technical Specialist)

Laura Cusack (LC), Financial Conduct Authority (Delivery Manager)

Rudi Damhuis (RD), Legal and General

Jacqueline Davies (JD), TSB

Ken Ellis (KE), Clear Bank

Dayo Forster (DF), Bank of England (Scaling)

Ross Johnston (RJ), Westpac Bank

Mark Jones (MJ), Cambridge and Counties Bank

Sean Lane (SL1), Google Payment Limited

Sandy Leggeat (SL2), Goldman Sachs

Angus Moir (AM1), Bank of England (Transformation Programme Lead)

Alison Morley (AM2), Barings

Derek Paine (DP), Mizuho International

Destiny Patrick-Ogbu (DPO), Bank of England (IOREP Delivery)

Robert Pengelly (RP), Nationwide Building Society

Muhammad Abdul Rehman (MAR), Bank ABC

Daniel Sadler (DS), Association of British Insurers

Joanne Seagrave (JS), Tesco Bank

Aaron Shiret (AS), Bank of England (TDC Secretariat)

Tammy Solomon (TS), Investec

Rob Thickett (RT), Building Societies Association

Andrew Turvey (AT), Belmont Green

Rebecca Whitwam (RW), Bank of England (TDC Secretariat)

Kenny Wong (KW), One Savings Bank

Several Bank of England staff observing

Several FCA staff observing

Apologies

None