The Bank of England (the Bank) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are working together with industry to transform data collection from the UK financial sector. We are doing this through a joint transformation programme. In this communication, we provide an update on the Data Standards Review commissioned by the programme's Data Standards Committee and explain how industry can provide input to the review.
The joint transformation programme’s vision is that 'The Bank of England and the FCA get the data they need to fulfil their mission, at the lowest possible cost to industry'. One of the programme’s key reforms, central to achieving this vision, is the increased development and adoption of common data standards throughout the financial sector. Find out more on the Transforming Data Collection (TDC) webpage.
The Bank of England and the FCA think industry will play a crucial role in the development and adoption of standards, as the owners of much of the data that will be standardised. With this in mind, the Bank of England and FCA set up the Data Standards Committee. They intend this to be a forum for industry to discuss data standardisation issues relevant to the TDC programme. They hope that the committee will provide a space for industry to build a consensus on key questions relevant to the programme’s use cases.
During phase one of the programme, the Data Standards Committee commissioned a review of data standards. Ernst and Young (EY) will perform the review, and will submit a report to the Data Standards Committee by the end of 2022. The review will look at key questions around the development and adoption of data standards in the financial sector. Answering these questions will inform the programme’s future strategy in relation to common data standards.
In line with the principles of the joint transformation programme, the Data Standards Review is intended to be open, collaborative and transparent. The review aims to get the widest possible range of views, to get the best solutions to the issues we are tackling. As part of the Data Standards Review, the programme would like industry to provide their views regarding data standards.
The review will mainly involve two sets of activities. Firstly, the review team will conduct a series of interviews with various selected stakeholders in the financial sector to gather their views on relevant data standards questions. In addition to this, industry are invited to submit their views on a dedicated online portal, which will host written exchanges of views on some of the specific data standards challenges that the programme seeks to address.
The review team will then collate findings from these activities for their report, which will be shared publicly in due course.
Industry can provide input to the Data Standards Review via on online portal hosted by EY. The portal is now live and will be open for a period of six weeks, closing on 6 December.
Whilst the portal is live, EY will run a series of three ‘challenge’ periods, each lasting around two weeks, where firms can comment on a different set of questions. The Bank of England and FCA strongly encourage all interested parties in industry to engage with this opportunity, to ensure the widest possible set of views are collected.
The three challenge periods will run as follows:
In order to participate, please go to EY’s Cognistreamer portal.
The portal will require you to create an account, providing some personal details including your name, company and email address. You will need to sign up to EY’s User Agreement, which outlines how EY will use your personal data.
Comments you make in the discussion will be visible to other participants in the discussion, with your name visible.
Respondents are also welcome to submit comments directly to the programme team. If you would like to submit comments directly, or would like any further information, please contact TDCSecretariat@bankofengland.co.uk.