FCA issues new data requirement rules for pension providers

The FCA has been collecting data from a sample of pension providers on an ad hoc basis since the introduction of the pension freedoms in 2015, but will now collect data from the whole market as well as incoming firms.

The two new data items required include retirement income flow, to be completed every six months, and retirement income stock and withdrawals flow, to be completed annually.

Firms will be required to submit the data via Gabriel, and the new rules come into effect on 30 September 2018.

The FCA will collect data on crystallised, uncrystallised and partially crystallised pension pots and annual flow data on regular and ad hoc withdrawals.

The final rules have been amended so that only providers who have 750 or more plans where regular withdrawals are set up will have to provide withdrawal rate data.

The FCA said the threshold requirement "will only reduce the amount of plans we request information on by 5%, but it will likely have a significant impact reducing the regulatory burden for many small firms".

The regulator added that it is particularly keen to monitor the potential for growth in master trust plans.

In the Policy Statement, the FCA said: "To make sure that our supervision remains effective we need to regularly collect data from the whole market. The new regulatory returns will give us a better picture of the market, as our analysis will not rely on data from only a sample of firms. They will also provide firms with greater clarity on what data they need to provide and certainty regarding when and how often the data is required."