Search, check and monitor FCA-regulated firms at scale
Search FCA-regulated firms and people, verify permissions and track status, relationship and authorisation changes across the counterparties, networks and watchlists you oversee.
- Check firms, FRNs, permissions and regulated activities
- Screen counterparties and introducers by regulatory profile
- Monitor appointed representatives, principals and controllers
- Alert teams when watchlist firms or people change on the register
Why compliance monitoring in financial services is difficult
Regulated firms change constantly - permissions, statuses, people and intermediary relationships. The official register is authoritative, but it was not built for monitoring hundreds of counterparties at once, so teams fall back to manual checks and lists that go stale.
One firm at a time
The public FCA Register is built for lookups, not for triaging large populations of firms, introducers or network members.
Permission complexity
Statuses, permissions and regulated activities are hard to compare consistently across onboarding, reviews and counterparty checks.
Relationship blind spots
Appointed representative, principal and controller relationships are easy to miss when you only check a single firm record.
Watchlists go stale
Spreadsheets and periodic manual reviews fall behind as firms authorise, change permissions or move between networks.
No scalable monitoring
Teams struggle to see what changed across a customer base, introducer panel or regulated network without repeated manual searches.
Generic data lacks context
Standard company databases do not reflect FCA permissions, AR structures or the regulatory shape of a firm.
How compliance teams use Distos
Not features - the jobs compliance, risk and operations teams use Distos to do, from firm checks to keeping watchlists current.
Check FCA firms, FRNs and profiles in one workflow
Compliance teams need faster triage than the public Register allows - without losing the trail back to official sources for material decisions.
- Search by firm name, FRN, trading name, status, permission and activity.
- Review register fields alongside enrichment in a structured view.
- Reuse checks for onboarding, periodic reviews and counterparty screening.
Screen permissions and regulated activities at scale
Turn complex permission data into filters that help you see which firms match - or breach - the profile you need to oversee.
- Filter by permission profile, status, activity and firm type.
- Flag records for review, escalation or verification against the official register.
- Compare permission patterns across cohorts, networks and watchlists.
Monitor people, controllers and AR structures
Oversight often depends on who is connected to whom - not just whether a single firm record looks correct on the day you checked it.
- Map appointed representatives, principal firms and related networks.
- Track people, controllers and firm relationships across FCA records.
- Surface relationship changes that may need compliance follow-up.
Keep watchlists current as the register changes
Replace static spreadsheets with monitored lists that refresh when firms change status, permissions or intermediary relationships.
- Build watchlists for customers, counterparties, introducers and networks.
- Receive alerts for permission, status, authorisation and AR changes.
- Export structured views for workflows and internal review packs.
Used by teams across regulated financial services
Compliance & risk
Check permissions, monitor regulated firms and track changes that may need review or escalation.
Onboarding & due diligence
Screen new counterparties and customers against FCA status, permissions and relationship structures.
Operations & oversight
Maintain live views of introducers, networks and regulated entities your business depends on.
Third-party & vendor risk
Monitor outsourced partners and regulated suppliers as their authorisations and relationships change.
Why generic B2B data doesn't work in regulated financial services
Standard databases treat regulated firms like any other company. But financial services runs on permissions, regulated individuals and intermediary relationships that generic providers simply don't capture.
- No regulatory context - permissions, statuses and regulated activities are missing.
- Blind to appointed representative and principal firm relationships.
- Static snapshots that go stale as the market moves.
- Can't segment by the things that actually define a regulated firm.
- FCA-linked intelligence built around permissions, statuses and activities.
- Maps appointed representatives, principals and intermediary structures.
- Monitored and refreshed as firms, people and relationships change.
- Specialist segmentation made for regulated financial services markets.
- Enriched data from multiple sources.
Guides to FCA compliance monitoring and company checks
Practical guidance for using FCA Register data to check firms, understand permissions, monitor appointed representatives and support compliance workflows.
How to Monitor Appointed Representative Changes on the FCA Register
A practical guide for compliance and monitoring teams tracking appointed representative and principal-firm relationships on the FCA Register.
FCA Register Checks: What Compliance Teams Should Track
Learn which FCA Register data fields compliance teams should monitor, what changes may trigger review, and how watchlists and alerts support repeatable checks.
How to Build an FCA Compliance Monitoring Plan
A practical guide to building an FCA compliance monitoring plan that combines risk priorities, FCA Register checks, Companies House data, watchlists and alerts.
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about using Distos for FCA company checks, permission screening, appointed representative monitoring and compliance watchlists.