The Bank of England’s statistical reporting framework is a critical component of the UK’s financial regulatory environment. It supports the Bank’s role in maintaining monetary and financial stability by gathering essential data from firms within the financial sector. This process facilitates informed decision-making for economic policies, ensures compliance with regulations, and contributes to public reports such as the Money and Credit Release and Bankstats Tables.
In late 2020, the Bank of England announced its plan to transition statistical returns from the legacy Online Statistical Collection Application (OSCA) to the Bank of England Electronic Data Submission (BEEDS) platform. Today, the BEEDS platform serves as the primary channel for submitting statistical returns. This change streamlined the process by enabling firms to complete and file data submissions online.
By 2021, the Bank had completed the transition, introducing XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) as the new format for statistical data reporting, replacing the previous XML format.
To support firms during the shift, the Bank provided a statistical utility tool to convert spreadsheet data into XBRL reports. However, the Bank clarified that the utility would not be updated for future taxonomy changes: “This utility has been created to assist Firms in the transition to XBRL reporting. It will not be maintained for future updates to the Taxonomy so should be viewed as a temporary solution”.
Given the temporary nature of this tool, authorized institutions without software compatible with the Bank’s statistical taxonomy are adopting dedicated solutions to streamline their reporting processes.
- Authorized Institutions: All financial institutions authorized by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to accept deposits in the UK are required to submit statistical returns. This includes banks and building societies.
- New Entrants: Newly established institutions receive notification of their reporting obligations when the PRA approves their deposit-taking license.
The BoE provides a complete list of institutions in the UK banking sector that are required to submit statistical data. This list is publicly available for reference.
Firms must report specific data sets based on criteria such as asset size or private sector holdings. Reporting is categorized into monthly or quarterly frequencies depending on the institution’s characteristics and obligations.
Firms must adhere to a strict schedule of submission deadlines, with reporting dates typically set for the last calendar day of a month or quarter.
The annual reporting schedule and comprehensive deadlines are published by the Bank here, enabling firms to plan their submissions effectively.
- Mandatory Returns:
- Balance Sheet (BT) Returns: A comprehensive summary of the institution’s financial position.
- Eligible Liabilities (ELS) Returns: Information about the liabilities considered for regulatory purposes
- Additional Data:
Other submissions depend on the institution’s nature and scale. Reporting thresholds, available via the BoE, define the specific data sets required.
All statistical returns to the Bank of England (BoE) follow the Single Data Point Model (SDPM), which uses the international XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) standard for financial reporting. This model ensures consistency and accuracy in data submission.
Institutions are required to incorporate the relevant statistical taxonomy (in particular, BoE statistics taxonomy 1.3.0 is now applied) into their IT systems to align with the SDPM. They may continue using an earlier taxonomy version if the latest updates do not introduce changes that affect their reporting obligations.
To assist firms in compliance, the BoE provides tools and resources such as the reporting thresholds guide and taxonomy definitions. By adhering to these guidelines, financial institutions contribute to maintaining the stability and transparency of the UK financial system.
Ensuring compliance with the Bank of England’s reporting requirements can be challenging for financial institutions. This is where ATOME, a leading regulatory reporting tool, comes to support.
What is ATOME? ATOME is an advanced software solution designed to simplify and automate the end-to-end regulatory reporting process. Tailored for institutions subject to Bank of England reporting obligations, ATOME ensures accurate validation of data for timely and efficient submission.
Authors of ATOME Particles have been involved in producing financial regulatory reporting in Europe for over 18 years. We have created reporting solutions for banks, insurance companies and pension funds to comply with the regulatory frameworks like Basel, CRD IV / CRR, COREP, FINREP, Solvency II, IORP II and others.
- Total BoE coverage: ATOME Particles handles all your BoE XBRL conversions across various frameworks, including Banking (Structural Reform 3.5.1, Capital Plus 3.5.1, MREL 3.5.1, etc.), Insurance (Solvency II National Specific Template (NST) 1.3.1, Solvency II Internal Model Outputs (IMO) 1.3.0, etc.), and Statistics.
View the full list of supported BoE frameworks here.
- Real-Time Updates: With evolving regulations, ATOME ensures firms remain compliant by incorporating BoE updates into its system promptly.
New taxonomies are made available in the tool within a few days of their publication. The tool automatically integrates the latest compliance templates, ensuring your reports are always up-to-date.
- Automated Compliance Checks: ATOME Particles incorporates the latest regulatory criteria and automatically validates data to align with the Bank of England Statistics taxonomy.
It features a robust set of automated validation checks, including all mandatory ones specified by the regulator, to ensure your submission is accurate and match BoE reporting requirements. - Excel Integration: ATOME Particles can serve as a fully Excel-based reporting solution or be paired with a lightweight application that your IT teams can easily integrate into the reporting workflow.
This flexibility enables the efficient and straightforward completion of Statistical Data templates.The Excel integration provides a quick and simple way of completing the new reports, requiring minimal IT resources. - Comprehensive Support: From initial setup to ongoing usage, ATOME provides dedicated support to address user queries and technical challenges. Additionally, leverage our expertise in regulatory taxonomies, developed by XBRL and DPM (Data Point Model) experts, who are also contributors to the development of international financial data standards.
For more details about how ATOME can streamline your regulatory reporting process, connect with our experts to get a personalized free trial.
- Total BoE coverage: ATOME Particles handles all your BoE XBRL conversions across various frameworks, including Banking (Structural Reform 3.5.1, Capital Plus 3.5.1, MREL 3.5.1, etc.), Insurance (Solvency II National Specific Template (NST) 1.3.1, Solvency II Internal Model Outputs (IMO) 1.3.0, etc.), and Statistics.
View the full list of supported BoE frameworks here. - Real-Time Updates: With evolving regulations, ATOME ensures firms remain compliant by incorporating BoE updates into its system promptly.
New taxonomies are made available in the tool within a few days of their publication. The tool automatically integrates the latest compliance templates, ensuring your reports are always up-to-date.
- Automated Compliance Checks: ATOME Particles incorporates the latest regulatory criteria and automatically validates data to align with the Bank of England Statistics taxonomy.
It features a robust set of automated validation checks, including all mandatory ones specified by the regulator, to ensure your submission is accurate and match BoE reporting requirements.
- Excel Integration: ATOME Particles can serve as a fully Excel-based reporting solution or be paired with a lightweight application that your IT teams can easily integrate into the reporting workflow.
This flexibility enables the efficient and straightforward completion of Statistical Data templates. The Excel integration provides a quick and simple way of completing the new reports, requiring minimal IT resources.
- Comprehensive Support: From initial setup to ongoing usage, ATOME provides dedicated support to address user queries and technical challenges. Additionally, leverage our expertise in regulatory taxonomies, developed by XBRL and DPM (Data Point Model) experts, who are also contributors to the development of international financial data standards.
For more details about how ATOME can streamline your regulatory reporting process, connect with our experts to get a personalized free trial.
