EUROPE: BVI Welcomes ESMA’s Proposal to Harmonise Regulatory Fund Reporting

Friday August 28 2020

The German Investment Funds Association BVI announced that it supports the objective of ESMA to standardize fund reporting on liquidity and leverage risks. Specifically, as part of the review of the AIFMD, ESMA has proposed to align the reporting requirements on liquidity and leverage of UCITS with the EU-wide harmonised standards for alternative investment funds (AIFs).

In addition, in the context of the revision of the AIFM reporting scheme, any duplications or inconsistencies in regulatory transaction reporting (e.g. EMIR, SFTR) should be eliminated.

‘The elimination of the patchwork of national regulatory reporting is a good proposal by ESMA. At last, the harmonisation of content, format and reporting intervals, which we have long been calling for, is finally coming to fruition. Excessive bureaucracy in fund reporting is causing unnecessary burdens and expenses for fund companies and regulators alike. This has to end,’ says BVI’s CEO Thomas Richter. The confusion in UCITS and AIFM reporting is counterproductive for the analysis of systemic risks and hinders efficient supervision.

In March 2018, the BVI had already called on the European Commission to harmonise the reporting system for UCITS, particularly on liquidity risk and leverage. In so doing it backed up the corresponding recommendation of the European Systemic Risk Board at the end of 2017.

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