Britain’s Financial Services Authority says that it does not intend to use eXtensible Business Reporting Language for its disclosure system.

The FSA notes that it is aware that a number of regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, are using XBRL as their chosen technology for the communication of financial and regulatory information.

Earlier this year, the Canadian Securities Administrators launched a consultation on whether XBRL should be used here too. Apart from the SEC, it is being used, or developed, in a number of other jurisdictions in Europe and Asia too.

The FSA reports that it has also considered XBRL and has, “determined that it is not the most appropriate technology for the FSA or British financial services regulation at the current time”.

The regulator notes that its Mandatory Electronic Reporting system will be developed in partnership with an external development supplier. “This in itself represents a significant technical undertaking for the FSA and its development partner. The FSA does not believe that there is sufficient XBRL experience within Britain currently to develop this system without incurring additional cost and risk and this approach is in line with our statutory obligation to consider the proportionality of burdens placed on authorised firms,” it explains.

In order to promote the efficient and effective use of information, the FSA has committed to introducing a common reporting format across all of its regulatory reporting systems. Existing FSA systems have been developed in the standard XML format and it is therefore a logical step to introduce a system that builds upon and further develops the existing technical infrastructure that supports standard XML based reporting, it maintains.

The FSA says it will continue to monitor the development of XBRL and it may become appropriate for the FSA to reassess its position in relation to XBRL. The FSA is already taking steps to ensure that the XML-based architecture that it develops now would support XBRL transformation should the need arise in the future, it adds.