The FCA Register Extract Service (RES): what it is, what you get, and whether it's right for you
A comprehensive guide to the FCA's bulk data service
Executive summary
The Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Register Extract Service (RES) is a paid way to obtain bulk, structured data from the UK Financial Services (FS) Register. Delivery is handled by the FCA's distribution partner, Spectrum Data Management (SDM). It suits organisations that need machine‑readable data for at‑scale compliance checks, internal lookups, or market analysis. You can order a complete snapshot of firms (and, optionally, individuals) on a weekly or monthly subscription, or as a one‑off download. It is not real‑time and it does not provide incremental "deltas". It also omits frequently requested items such as direct contact details for individuals (emails, phones), dates of birth, and historical timelines of permissions.
Alongside the hard facts, this guide includes notes from Hackford's own use of RES—what to expect on day one, what breaks if you are not careful, and a few quirks the handbook does not mention.
What the RES actually is
At its core, the RES is a bulk subset of the live FS Register. It is the official route for obtaining the Register in a form designed for systems rather than for human browsing. Files are distributed by SDM via a secure web portal. Buyers choose between a firms‑only dataset or an enhanced firms + individuals dataset (an additional fee applies for the latter). You can subscribe weekly or monthly, or purchase a single one‑off copy.
In practice, organisations use the RES to power internal reference tables, carry out systematic compliance screening at scale, and support analytical work that would be impractical with one‑by‑one web searches or the public API.
At a glance: weekly/monthly snapshots, not real‑time; full refresh every delivery (no deltas); portal download managed by SDM; licensing and cost depend on your use case and whether you include individuals.
Practitioner notes: how we load the RES at Hackford
We built a custom ETL to handle the 17 component files that make up a full RES download. The pipeline pulls from SDM (portal for manual; HTTPS or SFTP for automated) into a landing area, validates encodings, record counts and basic types, normalises a few notorious fields, and then loads into our database so we can run cross‑table queries with stable keys (FRN/IRN).
Two quirks matter when you're getting started. First, headers are not in the files. The first row is an information row, not column headers, so you need the handbook to map positions to names. We formalise the handbook's example schema into our own DDL before first load. Second, look out for non-standardised values. Expect minor—but consequential—variation in capitalisation or spelling across some text fields (for example, certain requirement names or firm status values).
The handbook is your friend
If you buy RES, plan to live in the Subscribers' Handbook (59 pages) for a few weeks. It explains data types, file structures, and provides diagrams of how the pieces join. The diagrams are rough and the examples are illustrative rather than exhaustive, but they are good enough to design joins, write a first‑pass DDL, and parse row counts.
It is available for download via the FCA's RES page and was last updated in October 2024.
What's included and what isn't
The RES is a working regulatory dataset, not a marketing directory. So don't expect contact details, firm segmentation, or websites straight out of the box.
Firms (base package). You receive core firm identifiers (FRN, name, address), current status and key dates, regulated activities/permissions, trading names, relationships with appointed representatives (ARs), PRA/FCA regulator flags, passporting information (where applicable), limitations/requirements, and records of disciplinary actions at the firm level. There is also PSD/EMD coverage for relevant payment services and e‑money entities and agents.
Individuals (enhanced add‑on). When purchased, you also receive details of approved persons and the regulated functions they hold (for example, SMF3 – Executive Director), linked to the relevant firm.
Not included. Direct emails or phone numbers for individuals, dates of birth, prior names of individuals, personal marketing contacts, and an explicit timeline of historical permissions. The extract reflects the state of the Register at the time of the snapshot; it is not a long-term history.
Data freshness and cadence
The Register is snapshotted on Thursday evening. Weekly deliveries are then made available on Friday. Monthly deliveries derive from the snapshot taken ahead of the first Friday of each month. Each delivery is a complete refresh rather than a delta, so it is worth keeping a dated copy of every file for audit and reproducibility; that archive becomes your history of the Register.
Access, automation, and formats
SDM provides access through a web portal; it also supports authenticated HTTPS web service or SFTP (on request) for scripted retrieval. There is no RES API, but you can still automate download jobs once credentials are in place.
Files are supplied as pipe‑delimited text (extension ".ext"), encoded in UTF‑8 with Windows/DOS line endings. Some of dataset files are quite large (>100mb), and while spreadsheets can technically open the files, it's risky: field limits, auto‑typing, and delimiter issues can silently corrupt data.
There are a definitely some files with millions of rows, which Excel will not be able to save properly (if you can open the file at all!). For practical use, we suggest inserting into a database or using Python (e.g. Pandas). Pay attention to quoting rules (fields containing a pipe should be enclosed in double quotes but in practice are not always handled).
Pricing, contracts, and VAT
There are two cost components: an FCA licence fee and an SDM access fee. All prices quoted on the FCA website exclude VAT.
Your FCA fee depends on usage category: FCA compliance: own business (for regulated firms using RES to meet obligations), Other: own business (internal use that is not regulatory compliance), or Reseller use (onward supply or inclusion within a product). Cadence (weekly, monthly, one‑off) and whether you include individuals also affect the FCA fee. For subscriptions SDM charges a separate access fee; for one‑off downloads SDM charges a fixed £100.
At the time of writing, a one-off export of firms + individuals costs for own use (ie not regulatory purposes) costs £11,125 + VAT.
For weekly updates, the cost is £19,881 + VAT. Both prices include the fees paid to SDM.
The FCA will issue a contract (around fifteen pages) covering permitted use and onward supply. Once executed and returned, SDM enables your account for portal/HTTPS access.
If you are unsure which usage category applies, clarify this before ordering; it drives the FCA fee more than the specific subset you intend to analyse (regional or sectoral slices are not available).
RES Questions and answers (FAQs)
Is there an API for RES? No. The FCA offers a separate public Register API for ad‑hoc lookups, but RES is a bulk download delivered as files.
Can I get emails or direct phone numbers? No. Contact details for individuals are not included. Plan to enrich yourself from websites or other sources if you need them.
Can I buy a regional or thematic subset (e.g., Midlands only) for less? No. Pricing depends on your usage category and cadence. You cannot buy a subset.
Does RES include historical permissions? Not as a timeline. Each file is a snapshot of the state at the time of extraction. To build history, keep every snapshot and determine changes yourself.
Why doesn't the extract match the live Register today? The extract is built from a Thursday‑evening snapshot. Changes made afterwards appear in the next delivery.
Can I open the files in Excel? It's possible but we'd recommend against it for full datasets. Use a database/ETL pipeline and export smaller, curated views to spreadsheets if needed.
What's with the missing headers? The files ship without column headers. The handbook includes the field definitions—map them into your schema before loading.
How many files are in a full extract? Expect 17 component files, covering firms, individuals, permissions, and relationships. Some files are upwards of 100MB.
Can downloads be automated? Yes. SDM supports an authenticated HTTPS web service and SFTP suitable for scripted retrieval, even though there is no API.
About Hackford
Hackford is a licensed reseller of the FCA's Register Extract Service. We build clean, enriched datasets and tailored analyses on top of RES (with joins to Companies House and open‑web sources), and we deliver in formats that slot straight into your workflow—CSV, JSON, or SQLite. For bespoke datasets, insight projects, thought‑leadership reports, internal tooling, CRM cleanses or one‑off exports, see our Consultancy offering.
