Why Spreadsheet Compliance Tracking Is Reaching Its Limit
Compliance obligations in UK insurance have multiplied. Consumer Duty, which the FCA brought into force in July 2023, requires firms to monitor and evidence customer outcomes across the distribution chain. Delegated authority arrangements mean MGAs and carriers must oversee coverholders, brokers and appointed representatives. Every one of those relationships brings checks, permissions, documents and renewal dates to track.
Many firms still hold this in workbooks. REG’s research found that 51% of general insurance firms still rely on spreadsheets for compliance work. The result is what many compliance teams call death by spreadsheet: a slow build-up of version conflicts, missed dates and evidence that cannot be found when a regulator or capacity provider asks for it.
Where Spreadsheets Break Down in Compliance
Spreadsheets are flexible, which is why firms adopted them. That flexibility is also the problem when the job is tracking obligations that carry regulatory consequences.
1. Human error
Every entry is typed by hand. A mistyped expiry date, a broken formula or an overwritten cell can hide an overdue check. Nothing in a spreadsheet tells you that something is missing, only that a cell is empty.
2. Version control and data integrity
Copies multiply. One team holds a tracker on a shared drive, another keeps a local version, and a third works from an email attachment. Without a single source of truth, nobody can say which version is current.
3. No audit trail
A spreadsheet rarely records who changed what, and when. If a regulator or capacity provider asks how a counterparty decision was made, the firm has to reconstruct the answer from memory and inboxes. That is the opposite of audit-ready.
4. Time drain
Compliance staff spend their week chasing updates by email, reconciling copies and rebuilding reports. That is time not spent reviewing risk. The cost grows with every new counterparty added.
What Is Compliance Tracking Software?
Compliance tracking software gives a firm one structured record of what it must do, who owns each task, when it is due and what evidence proves it is done. It turns a list of obligations into a live system with alerts, ownership and history.
For an insurance firm, that typically means tracking:
- Counterparty checks, including KYC and KYB, sanctions and PEP screening
- Regulatory permissions and licences
- Terms of Business Agreements (TOBAs) and their renewal dates
- Consumer Duty and fair value reviews
- Policy attestations and declarations
- Regulatory deadlines and reporting dates
Tracking is narrower than compliance management. Tracking answers three questions: what is due, who owns it, and what evidence exists. Wider management software covers policy authoring, training, incident handling and more. A firm can start with tracking and still get most of the operational relief.
What to Look For in Compliance Tracking Software
Not every compliance tracking tool suits an insurance firm. These are the criteria that matter most.
1. A single source of truth for obligations and counterparties
Every obligation and every counterparty should sit in one record. If teams still keep side trackers, the software has not replaced the spreadsheet.
2. Automated alerts on changes and deadlines
The system should tell you when a licence lapses, a director changes or a document expires, rather than waiting for the next periodic review. Real-time visibility is the difference between finding an issue and being told about it.
3. A complete, exportable audit trail
Every action should be time-stamped and attributable. You should be able to produce the evidence for any decision in minutes, not days.
4. Integrated data checks rather than manual look-ups
If staff still check the FCA Register, Companies House and sanctions lists by hand, the tracker only stores the result of manual work. Look for software that gathers and refreshes that data itself.
5. Clear ownership and workflow
Each task needs a named owner, a due date and an approval path. Unclear ownership is one of the most common reasons checks are missed.
6. Reporting for boards, capacity providers and regulators
Senior stakeholders want a view of overdue items, risk levels and trends. Reports should come from live data, not from a workbook rebuilt before each meeting.
7. Security and data protection
Compliance records contain sensitive information about people and companies. Ask how data is stored, who can see it and how access is controlled.
How REG Supports Compliance Tracking for Insurers, MGAs and Brokers
According to REG Technologies, REG Network is built to let insurance firms automate due diligence, onboard counterparties and keep oversight across the distribution chain. It covers screening, declarations and document exchange in one environment, and counterparties can use REG Exchanges free of charge to sign documents and supply information. Across the network, REG reports 38,000+ counterparties in 180 countries, 3 million+ weekly data checks and 35,000+ monthly alerts.
For firms that need deeper, configurable oversight, continuous counterparty monitoring through REG Risk 365 lets teams set their own risk appetite and thresholds, then receive alerts when counterparty data changes. REG’s wider guidance on replacing manual compliance processes sets out how the same approach applies to teams still working from trackers and inboxes.
Moving From Spreadsheets to Compliance Tracking Software
Migration does not need to be a big bang. A phased approach keeps the team in control.
Map obligations and owners. List every obligation, counterparty type and check you track today, and who is responsible for each.
Clean and centralise the data. Remove duplicates and resolve conflicting versions before anything is imported. Poor data moved into new software stays poor data.
Phase the move. Start with the highest-risk group, such as delegated authority partners, then extend to the rest.
Run in parallel for a short period. Keep the spreadsheet read-only while the team confirms the new records match.
Measure the outcome. Track overdue items, time taken to produce evidence and hours spent on manual checks before and after. For more on why the old approach persists, see our post on breaking the Excel dependency.
Spreadsheets were never designed to evidence regulatory compliance, and the gap shows as obligations, counterparties and scrutiny grow. Compliance tracking software closes it by giving insurers, MGAs and brokers one record, live alerts and an audit trail that stands up to review. The firms that move first shift from reactive checking to proactive, embedded compliance, and spend their time on risk rather than on reconciling files. Customers remain responsible for their compliance decisions, but they can make them with better information and far less manual effort.
