ESMA advances the simplification of EU reporting frameworks for funds and transactions

The two reports published today are complementary pillars of ESMA’s broader simplification and burden reduction agenda, launched last year.

Verena Ross, ESMA’s chair said: 

“ESMA is advancing on the EU‑wide simplification of regulatory reporting, targeting both funds reporting and transaction reporting. The objective is to reduce operational burden for market participants by introducing the principle of ‘reporting once’, while also improving data quality and supervisory effectiveness. This will be achieved through harmonisation and enhanced data sharing between authorities across the EU.

The data we collect from market participants is and will continue to be central to how ESMA and the NCAs supervise markets. It underpins our risk assessments and allows us to identify vulnerabilities early, supporting our work to safeguard integrity and financial stability across EU markets.”

Final Report on the integrated collection of funds’ data 

In the report, ESMA sets out a strategic move away from fragmented national reporting towards a common EU reporting framework, centred on a common and single reporting template designed to remain proportionate for different fund sizes and investment strategies, while meeting supervisory needs. The aim is to reduce duplication, improve data consistency and enhance the usability of data for authorities.

To support this approach, ESMA outlines a hybrid operational model, under which data validation, storage and analytics would be organised at EU level, while data collection would remain at national level. By facilitating data sharing across authorities, the centralised hub will offer efficiency gains not only for authorities but will also contribute further to burden reduction by limiting duplicative data requests.

Next steps on funds reporting include the development of regulatory and implementing technical standards (RTS, ITS), that will be presented next year. After that, the implementation of the new template and the rest of recommendations will be gradually introduced, with the first phase focusing on the integration of reporting under AIMFD and UCITS, and the second phase that would expand the integrated framework to other reporting obligations. 

Interim report on the holistic review of transaction reporting

Based on the feedback received from more than 100 respondents to the previous call for evidence on transaction reporting simplification, ESMA has identified the main challenges in the current reporting frameworks, and the most promising approaches to overcome them: instrument‑based and dual-side simplifications and the implementation of a “report once” framework across EMIR, MiFIR and SFTR in the long term. 

Most respondents indicated that overlapping and inconsistent reporting requirements, frequent and unsynchronised regulatory changes, fragmented reporting channels and dual reporting are major drivers of cost and complexity.

Considering the need to perform a thorough cost-benefit analysis, the report does not contain policy recommendations yet. As part of the next steps, ESMA will further engage with markets participants, including through an open hearing that will be held on 28 May, before moving forward with final recommendations to be published by mid-year. 

Background

Both reports are flagship deliverables of ESMA’s wider Simplification and Burden Reduction (SBR) initiative, to address growing complexity and operational costs stemming from EU reporting requirements.