The Bank of England has chided some banks and building societies for failing to supply accurate and reliable data to help regulators identify risks to the financial system.

PRA-authorised firms are required to submit "complete, timely, and accurate" regulatory returns on things such as assets, capital and operations.

In October 2019, the BofE was moved to send a letter to banks and building societies reminding them of their obligations.

Now, nearly two years later, the bank has written to CEOs again, stating: "Overall, we were disappointed to find significant deficiencies in a number of firms’ processes used to deliver accurate and reliable regulatory returns."

Continues the letter: "It was clear that multiple firms did not treat the preparation of their regulatory returns with the same care and diligence that they apply to financial reporting shared with the market and counterparties. For some firms, there had been a historic lack of focus, prioritisation, and investment in this area."

Firms have not prioritised investment in regulatory reporting, focusing on "tactical fixes" and relying on "significant manual intervention to fill data and system gaps," leading to a higher risk of errors.

Companies are told to fix their problems and warned that "where individual firms fall short of our expectations, we will consider the full range of supervisory responses and enforcement powers at our disposal".