Regulatory Reporting Explained: GABRIEL, RegData, COREP and FINREP

Regulatory reporting is one of the most distinctive responsibilities of the finance function in a regulated firm, and one that a finance professional new to the regulated sector must get to grips with. A regulated firm is required to submit regular reports to its regulator — on its financial position, its regulatory capital, its risks, and various other matters — and these regulatory returns are a substantial, recurring obligation that finance is typically central to producing. The systems and the report types involved come with their own vocabulary — RegData, the FCA’s reporting system that replaced the earlier GABRIEL; COREP and FINREP, standardised reporting frameworks for certain firms — which can be bewildering to a finance professional encountering them for the first time. Understanding the regulatory reporting landscape, in plain terms, helps a finance professional make sense of this important part of the regulated-firm finance role.

This guide is written for finance professionals in regulated firms who want to understand regulatory reporting and the systems and frameworks involved. It covers what regulatory reporting is and why it exists, the reporting systems including the move from GABRIEL to RegData, the standardised frameworks of COREP and FINREP, what producing regulatory reports involves, and the finance function’s role. It is a plain-language orientation aimed at finance professionals rather than a detailed technical manual, and because the specific reporting requirements, forms and systems change, the FCA’s guidance and the firm’s compliance function are the essential references for the current detail. The aim is the understanding a finance professional needs to make sense of the regulatory reporting landscape and their role in it, recognising that the specific requirements are detailed and evolving.

What Regulatory Reporting Is and Why It Exists

Regulatory reporting is the submission of regular reports by a regulated firm to its regulator, providing the regulator with the information it needs to supervise the firm. A regulated firm must report to the FCA on a range of matters — its financial position, its regulatory capital and whether it meets the requirements, its risks, and various other matters depending on the firm and its activities — on a regular basis, typically at defined intervals such as quarterly or annually. These reports give the regulator the information to monitor the firm’s compliance, its financial health, and its risks, which is how the regulator supervises the firm on an ongoing basis. Regulatory reporting is therefore how the firm keeps the regulator informed, and it is a fundamental part of the regulatory relationship.

The purpose of regulatory reporting is to enable the regulator’s supervision — giving the FCA the information it needs to monitor firms, identify problems, and ensure firms are meeting the requirements. For the firm, regulatory reporting is a compliance obligation that must be met accurately and on time, because the reports are how the firm demonstrates its compliance and keeps the regulator informed, and failures in regulatory reporting — late, inaccurate, or missing reports — are regulatory breaches with consequences. Understanding what regulatory reporting is and why it exists — the regular reports that keep the regulator informed and enable its supervision — is the foundation of understanding this area, because it explains the purpose behind the reporting obligation and why it must be met accurately and on time. Regulatory reporting is a core part of being a regulated firm, and the finance function is typically central to it.

The Reporting Systems: From GABRIEL to RegData

Regulatory reports are submitted through the regulator’s reporting system, and a finance professional should understand the system their firm uses. For firms reporting to the FCA, the reporting system is RegData, the FCA’s platform through which firms submit their regulatory returns. RegData replaced the FCA’s earlier reporting system, GABRIEL, which was the platform firms previously used and which a finance professional may still hear referred to, particularly by those who worked in the sector before the change. A finance professional new to the sector will use RegData as the current system, but should understand that GABRIEL was its predecessor, because references to GABRIEL may still be encountered and it helps to know the history.

The reporting system is the mechanism through which the firm submits its returns to the regulator — the platform on which the reports are completed and submitted, and through which the firm meets its reporting obligations electronically. A finance professional involved in regulatory reporting will use the system to submit the firm’s returns, and understanding how it works is part of the practical side of regulatory reporting. The move from GABRIEL to RegData is an example of how the regulatory reporting infrastructure evolves, and a finance professional should work with the current system while understanding that these systems change over time. The practical detail of using the reporting system is learned in the role, but understanding that RegData is the current FCA reporting system, having replaced GABRIEL, orients a finance professional to the reporting infrastructure. The system is the mechanism; the substance is the reports themselves and the information they contain, which is where the finance function’s work is concentrated.

The Standardised Frameworks: COREP and FINREP

Certain regulatory reports follow standardised frameworks, and a finance professional may encounter COREP and FINREP, particularly in certain types of firm. COREP — Common Reporting — is a standardised framework for reporting on regulatory capital and related prudential matters, providing a common format for firms to report their capital position, requirements, and related information. FINREP — Financial Reporting — is a standardised framework for reporting financial information, providing a common format for firms to report their financial position and performance for regulatory purposes. These frameworks provide standardised, structured formats for the reporting of prudential and financial information, used by certain firms depending on their type and the applicable requirements.

Whether a particular firm uses COREP and FINREP depends on the firm’s type and the regulatory requirements that apply to it, as these frameworks apply to certain categories of firm rather than universally, and the applicability has been subject to change as the regulatory regimes evolve. A finance professional should understand whether these frameworks apply to their firm, and if so, work with them as the format for the relevant reporting. For firms to which they apply, COREP and FINREP are the structured frameworks within which the capital and financial reporting is done, and understanding them is part of the regulatory reporting work. For a finance professional in a firm that uses them, they become a familiar part of the reporting, while a finance professional in a firm that does not use them need not be concerned with them. Understanding that COREP and FINREP are standardised frameworks for prudential and financial regulatory reporting, applicable to certain firms, orients a finance professional to these terms, and whether they apply to a particular firm is determined by the applicable requirements, which the firm’s compliance function and the FCA’s guidance clarify. The frameworks and their applicability are subject to change, so a finance professional should work from the current requirements.

What Producing Regulatory Reports Involves

Producing regulatory reports is a substantial, recurring activity that the finance function is typically central to, and understanding what it involves helps a finance professional grasp the work. The reports must be produced accurately, drawing on the firm’s financial and other data, computing the required figures according to the reporting requirements, and presenting them in the required format. This requires understanding the reporting requirements — what must be reported, how it is calculated, in what format — and applying them to the firm’s data to produce the reports, which is a technical activity requiring both financial knowledge and understanding of the specific reporting requirements. The reports must also be produced on time, to meet the reporting deadlines, and submitted through the reporting system.

Producing regulatory reports reliably requires good processes and controls, because the reports must be accurate and timely, and errors or delays are regulatory breaches. This means the underlying data being sound, the calculations being correct, the reports being reviewed and validated before submission, and the process being managed to meet the deadlines. The recurring nature of regulatory reporting — the same reports produced at regular intervals — means the process can be systematised, with the recurring elements built into a reliable process rather than reinvented each time. A finance professional involved in regulatory reporting produces the reports through this kind of controlled, recurring process, and understanding what it involves — the accurate computation from the firm’s data, the required formats, the deadlines, the controls, the systematised process — is part of understanding the regulatory reporting work. Producing regulatory reports well is a matter of good process, sound data, correct calculation, and reliable delivery to the deadlines, applied to a recurring obligation.

The Finance Function’s Role

The finance function is typically central to regulatory reporting, and a finance professional in a regulated firm should understand this role. The finance function usually produces much of the regulatory reporting — particularly the financial and prudential reports, which draw on the firm’s financial data and the capital calculations that finance is responsible for — because this reporting is fundamentally financial and falls naturally to finance. The finance function computes the required figures, prepares the reports in the required formats, and often submits them through the reporting system, making regulatory reporting one of the core regulatory responsibilities of finance in a regulated firm. This is one of the distinctive aspects of finance in a regulated firm, adding the regulatory reporting obligation to the ordinary finance work.

The finance function’s role in regulatory reporting requires understanding the reporting requirements, maintaining the processes and controls that produce the reports reliably, and ensuring the reports are accurate and timely. A finance professional involved in regulatory reporting develops the understanding of the relevant requirements and contributes to the reliable production of the reports, drawing on the firm’s compliance function and specialist support for the complex and specialist aspects, and the FCA’s guidance for the requirements. Understanding the finance function’s central role in regulatory reporting — producing the financial and prudential reports, computing the figures, meeting the deadlines — is part of understanding what finance does in a regulated firm, and it shows why regulatory reporting is a core part of the regulated-firm finance role. The finance professionals who understand regulatory reporting and can contribute to producing the reports reliably are genuinely valued in regulated firms, because this recurring, high-stakes obligation requires the understanding and the discipline that not every finance professional has. This connects to the broader regulatory environment covered in our guide on understanding the FCA, and to the regulatory capital covered in our guide on regulatory capital, the IFPR and the ICARA.

The Consequences of Getting Regulatory Reporting Wrong

It is worth understanding the consequences of regulatory reporting failures, because they underscore why the reporting must be produced accurately and on time. Regulatory reporting failures — reports that are late, inaccurate, or not submitted — are regulatory breaches, and they are treated seriously by the regulator, because the reporting is how the regulator supervises the firm and inaccurate or missing reports undermine that supervision. A firm that reports late, or that submits inaccurate reports, faces regulatory consequences, and persistent or serious reporting failures can attract significant regulatory attention and action.

Beyond the direct regulatory consequences, poor regulatory reporting can signal wider problems to the regulator — a firm that cannot produce accurate, timely reports may be seen as having weak systems, controls or financial management, which can prompt broader regulatory scrutiny. Conversely, a firm that consistently produces accurate, timely reports demonstrates sound systems and control, which supports a constructive regulatory relationship. For a finance professional, this means the regulatory reporting must be taken seriously and produced to a high standard, because the consequences of getting it wrong extend beyond the immediate breach to the firm’s standing with the regulator. Understanding the consequences of regulatory reporting failures — the breaches, the regulatory attention, the signal of wider problems — underscores why the reporting must be produced with accuracy and discipline, and why the finance function’s role in producing it reliably matters. Accurate, timely regulatory reporting is not just a compliance formality but part of the firm’s standing with its regulator, and producing it well is genuinely important.