What Is the FCA's Register Extract Service (RES)?
If you've outgrown one-off lookups on the free FCA Register and you're now looking at bulk data options, you've probably come across the Register Extract Service (RES) — the FCA's own paid route to firm and individual data at scale. Here's what it actually includes, how it's delivered and priced, and where it still leaves a gap.
What is the Register Extract Service (RES)?
What's included — firms data vs. the enhanced individuals tier
RES is the FCA's official bulk data option — a structured extract of Financial Services Register data, made available outside the free lookup tool for firms that need more than a single-record search. It's delivered through an external distribution partner rather than directly from the FCA's own systems, and it's sold as a subscription or one-off purchase rather than being freely accessible.
RES is offered in two forms. The standard tier covers firms' data only — name, address, current authorisation status, and dates of first authorisation and of the current status. An enhanced tier adds individuals' data — approved persons and their roles — at an additional fee. Whichever tier you choose, what you get is a data file: there's no dashboard, no alerting, and no filtering for "what's new since last time" built in.
How it's delivered and how much it costs
You can subscribe to RES on a weekly or monthly refresh cycle, or buy a single one-off extract if that's all you need. Pricing is tiered by how you intend to use the data — compliance purposes, your own business use, or reselling it — with separate annual fees payable to the FCA and to the distribution partner. As an example, weekly firms-only data for compliance use runs to in excess of £4,000 a year combined. Reseller and individuals-inclusive tiers cost more.
Where RES falls short if you need daily visibility
No push alerts
Each record includes a status effective date, so you can filter a single file for recent changes yourself. But nothing pushes that to you — you have to remember to pull the file and check it, on your own schedule.
Lag by design
Best case, you're a week behind. For sales prospecting or compliance monitoring, that's the difference between reaching a firm first and reaching it last.
The reconciliation work is the real cost
The subscription fee buys you the file. Turning it into "what changed" is still your job.
Watchdog splits the gap RES leaves into three tools instead of one static file:
New Firms Tracker — £195/month
Daily list of newly authorised firms. No diffing required.
Firms Monitor — £195/month
Watchlist your own FRNs. Daily/weekly reports on status changes, AR appointments and departures, disciplinary history, and linked Companies House data.
Individuals Tracker — £195/month
Ongoing tracking of specific individuals' roles and employers — the live version of RES's individuals tier.
Pay only for what you need — no annual data licence.