How to Get a List of FCA Registered Firms in the UK

If you want a list of FCA registered firms in the UK, there are several ways to get one. The right route depends on what you are trying to do.

If you only need to check one firm, the FCA Financial Services Register may be enough. If you need official bulk data that you will analyse, structure and format as needed the FCA Register Extract Service may be more appropriate.

But if you need a usable list for sales, marketing, M&A research, compliance monitoring or market mapping, you will usually need enriched FCA database rather than a raw Register lookup.

The important point is that “a list of FCA registered firms” can mean different things. It might mean currently authorised firms, registered firms, appointed representatives, firms with specific permissions, firms in a particular sector, or every firm record available through the FCA Register.

This guide explains the main options.

Quick Answer: How Can You Get a List of FCA Registered Firms?

There are five main ways to get FCA firm data:

1. Search the FCA Financial Services Register manually -only one firm at a time.

2. Use the FCA Firm Checker for individual firm checks - best for consumers.

3. Buy data through the FCA Register Extract Service - needs technical skills.

4. Use the FCA Register API - you can still only look up a specific company, one at a time.

5. Use an enriched FCA database such as Distos - best for user friendly and commercial use cases.

Each option has a different use case. The FCA’s own tools are the official source of regulatory information, but they are not always the easiest way to build targeted commercial lists.

What Counts as an FCA Registered Firm?

Before building a list, it helps to be clear about what you mean by “FCA registered firm”.

People often use the phrase loosely to describe any firm that appears on the FCA Register. But the Register includes different types of records. A firm may be authorised, registered, an appointed representative, no longer authorised, revoked, or listed because of a warning.

That distinction matters.

For example, a list of “FCA registered firms” could include:

• Directly authorised firms

• Firms registered under a specific regime

• Appointed representatives

• Principal firms

• Previously authorised firms

• Firms with current or historic permissions

• Firms connected to warnings or clone firm notices

If you are checking a firm before using it, you need to look at its current status and permissions. If you are building a market map or prospect list, you need to decide which types of firms should be included and which should be excluded.

Option 1: Search the FCA Financial Services Register Manually

The FCA Financial Services Register is the official public record of firms, individuals and other bodies that are, or have been, authorised by the FCA or PRA.

It is the best starting point if you want to check a specific firm or individual. You can only search by firm name, FRN number, tradig name, or the name of a person if you're looking for an individual.

This is useful when you need to answer questions such as:

• Is this firm on the FCA Register?

• Is it currently authorised or registered?

• What is its Firm Reference Number?

• What permissions does it hold?

• Is it an appointed representative?

• Has it previously been authorised?

• Are there warnings or disciplinary records?

The limitation is that manual searching is not designed for building large lists. It works well for lookup, verification and due diligence on a specific firm you already know the name of. It is less useful if you want to discover new firms, export thousands of records, segment firms by permission, or create a live watchlist.

Option 2: Use the FCA Firm Checker

The FCA Firm Checker is designed for people who want to check whether a firm is genuine before buying or using a financial product or service.

It is a consumer-facing too9l. For example, if someone is considering a mortgage broker, investment provider, insurer or credit firm, the Firm Checker helps confirm whether the firm is authorised and has permission to provide the relevant service.

For list-building or any B2B use case, however, it is not the main tool. It is there to verify firms, not to create market datasets.

Use the FCA Firm Checker when your question is:

“Can this firm provide the product or service I am checking?”

Use other data routes when your question is:

“How do I build a list of firms that match a specific market, permission, sector or commercial profile?”

Option 3: Use the FCA Register Extract Service

The FCA Register Extract Service, often called RES, is the FCA’s official route for obtaining extracts of Financial Services Register data.

According to the FCA, the service can provide firms-only data or firms-and-individuals data. It can be ordered as a regular subscription or, in some cases, as a one-off data cut.

This is the right route if you need official bulk FCA Register data and are prepared to work with the extract format, licensing terms and costs.

It may suit:

• Compliance teams

• Regulated firms

• Data teams

• Organisations with internal analysts

• Companies that need an official data supply

The main limitation is usability. Raw or semi-structured regulatory data still needs work before it becomes a useful commercial list. You may need to clean it, deduplicate records, map permissions, link entities to Companies House, classify firms, enrich people data and keep everything updated.

For many commercial teams, the extract is not the end product. It is the starting material to then build a product or import it into your own technology platform if you have a technology team.

Option 4: Use the FCA Register API

The FCA also provides API access to Register data. This can be useful if you have engineering resource and want to integrate FCA Register data into internal systems.

An API route may make sense if you want to:

• Build a custom internal tool

• Check firms programmatically

• Match internal records against FCA records

• Monitor selected firms

• Pull FCA data into a compliance workflow

The advantage is flexibility. The disadvantage is that you need to design, build and maintain the workflow yourself. And you can still only request the details of one firm at a time - you won't discover new firms using the API and there are rate limits meaning you can't request data too frequently.

You also still need to think about the same commercial data problems: entity matching, categorisation, permission mapping, Companies House links, changes over time and user-friendly search.

An API gives you access. It does not automatically give you a ready-to-use list.

Option 5: Use an Enriched FCA Database

An enriched FCA database is usually the best route when the goal is not just to get regulatory data, but to use it.

This is where Distos fits.

Distos turns FCA Register data into a searchable, enriched database of UK regulated firms and people. Instead of manually searching the Register or working with raw extracts, teams can search, segment and monitor FCA firms using structured regulatory and commercial data.

That means you can build lists based on questions such as:

• Which firms are authorised for a specific activity?

• Which firms operate in a particular financial services sector?

• Which firms are appointed representatives?

• Which principal firms have large AR networks?

• Which firms match our ideal customer profile?

• Which firms are relevant for an acquisition thesis?

• Which firms have changed status recently?

• Which people are connected to each firm?

• Which FCA records link to Companies House entities?

• What firms use a certain technology platform?

This matters because most commercial workflows need more than a name and reference number. Sales teams need targeting. Marketing teams need segmentation. M&A teams need market maps. Compliance teams need monitoring. Data teams need reliable structure.

An enriched FCA database helps turn the Register into something you can actually use.

Which Option Should You Use?

There is no single best option for every use case. The FCA Register is the source of truth, but the right tool depends on how you need to use the data.

Common Problems When Building an FCA Firm List Yourself

The biggest challenge is that FCA data is regulatory data, not commercial data.

If you try to build a list manually, you may run into several issues.

First, firm status can be misunderstood. “Registered”, “authorised”, “appointed representative” and “no longer authorised” are not interchangeable.

Second, trading names can make matching difficult. A firm may trade under a name that differs from its legal entity name.

Third, Companies House matching is not always straightforward. If you want to understand ownership, incorporation details or group structure, you need to connect FCA records to company records accurately.

Fourth, permissions need interpretation. A permission tells you what a firm is allowed to do, but it does not always map neatly onto plain-English commercial categories.

Fifth, the data changes. Firms gain or lose permissions, appointed representative relationships change, individuals move, and regulatory statuses are updated.

Finally, raw data does not tell you which firms are commercially relevant. A list of records still needs enrichment and segmentation before it becomes useful for sales, marketing, compliance or investment research.

How Distos Helps Build FCA Firm Lists Faster

Distos is designed for teams that need targeted FCA firm lists rather than one-off Register lookups.

It combines FCA Register data with enrichment, search and segmentation so you can move from “show me the data” to “show me the firms that matter”.

For example, you can use Distos to:

• Search across FCA firms and people

• Segment firms by regulatory status and permissions

• Identify appointed representatives and principal firms

• Link FCA records with Companies House data

• Build lists for sales and marketing campaigns

• Research regulated markets for M&A or private equity

• Monitor firm changes over time

• Create watchlists around firms, people or sectors

The value is not just access to FCA data. It is being able to turn that data into a list you can trust, filter, export and act on.

Final Takeaway

If you need a list of FCA registered firms in the UK, start by deciding what kind of list you actually need.

For a single firm check, use the FCA Register or FCA Firm Checker. For official bulk data, look at the FCA Register Extract Service. For technical workflows, the FCA API may be useful.

But if your goal is commercial research, sales targeting, compliance monitoring or market mapping, raw FCA data is usually not enough on its own. You need enrichment, structure and segmentation.

That is where an enriched FCA database like Distos can save time and reduce the risk of working from an incomplete or misunderstood list.