The FSA has finalised the reporting requirements for mortgage, general insurance and retail investment firms.
The FSA will use the information it collects about firms' financial health and business activities to monitor compliance and to identify trends and abnormalities, it said.
This information will be used to determine what sector-wide or firm-specific work needs to be done to protect consumers and maintain market confidence.
The FSA is currently reforming its firm reporting requirements. The regulator said it believed that improved reporting requirements are essential for the cost effective monitoring of the many thousands of smaller firms in retail financial markets, including those that will fall within its scope from January 2005.
If the FSA did not collect this information, it would not be able to target its resources as effectively, bringing additional costs for firms and ultimately for consumers, it said.
FSA high street firms director Sarah Wilson said: “We need to have a clear picture of what is happening in the market place to help us to spot potential problems early on and determine whether action needs to be taken.
“That is why we are asking firms to provide us with information on a regular basis. This will help us to be cost effective, by allowing us to be present on the ground where it matters most.
“All firms affected by these new requirements, including those new to regulation in the mortgage and general insurance sectors, have twelve months to implement them.
“For mortgage and general insurance firms this is the last part of the future regulatory regime to be finalised. For smaller firms from these sectors, we are conscious that getting to grips with our requirements is a big task.
“So today we have also published a guide to help such firms access the FSA Handbook and find the rules that are relevant to their firm.
“It is not a substitute for actually reading the rules themselves, but it should make it much easier for small firms to find their way around them.”
