Legal reporting for investment firms

The legal reporting for investment firms encompasses all the periodic information that supervised entities are required to submit to the CSSF on a monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual basis, in accordance with the applicable legal or prudential requirements.

Investment firms shall observe the applicable file transport and data protection instructions when transmitting their reporting templates to the CSSF.

Investment firms that are required to submit transaction reporting to the CSSF in accordance with Article 26 of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 on markets in financial instruments (MiFIR) shall follow the instructions on Transaction reporting.

Circulars CSSF 05/187 (completed by Circular CSSF 10/433), CSSF 08/364 and IML 96/124 concerning the instructions relating to the information to be provided by other professionals of the financial sector, commonly referred to as “national reporting”, also apply to investment firms.

The national reporting is composed of:

• The basic reporting tables;
• The ad-hoc reporting tables;
• The annual table IF “Persons responsible for certain functions and activities”.

Investment firms that have set-up one or multiple branches shall submit their national reporting in the following versions:

• Version “L” : figures of the sole head office in Luxembourg
• Version “N” : overall figures of the PFS including its branches (i.e. the head office and its branches)
• Version “S” : figures of the branch, as many tables as branches

Investment firms that have not set up any branches shall submit only the aforementioned version “L”.

The tables shall be completed on an individual basis and, in addition, where the investment firm is subject to consolidated supervision, on a consolidated basis.

The basic reporting consists of the following tables:

• Monthly financial situation (table I),
• Quarterly off-balance sheet (table III.1.),
• Quarterly profit and loss account (table III.2.), and
• Quarterly staff numbers (table 2.9.)

For the transmission of the basic reporting, the investment firm shall use the Excel template(s) available in the “Forms” section for the relevant versions (L, N, S). They shall only fill out the vertical tables (“TAB I BILAN”, “TAB III.1 HORS BILAN”, “TAB III.2 PP” and “TAB 2.9 EFFECTIF”); the horizontal tables are for CSSF use only. The tables shall be submitted as a preliminary (N) version to be provided by the 20^th calendar day after the reporting reference date.

On a yearly basis, investment firms shall submit a final (D) version of the financial statement and a final (D) version of the profit and loss account, at the closing date of the financial year, no later than one month after the ordinary general meeting that approved the annual financial statements (i.e. on 31 July at the latest for entities having their closing date as at 31 December).

The Excel template to be used for the purpose of submitting the final figures is version LD (final figures of the sole head office in Luxembourg) and ND (final overall figures of the head office and its branches). The templates can be downloaded through a direct link in the “Forms” section hereafter.

The statistical ad-hoc reporting provides detailed information on the specific activities and services provided by the investment firms. Each investment firm shall complete all tables that refer to the specific activities and services covered by their authorisations.

For example, an investment firm authorised to provide the following investment services:

• “Reception and transmission of orders in relation to one or more financial instruments” in accordance with Article 24-1 of the law of 5 April 1993 on the financial sector (hereafter “LFS”)
• “Execution of orders on behalf of clients” in accordance with Article 24-2 of the LFS
• “Portfolio management” in accordance with Article 24-4 of the LFS, and
• “Investment advice” in accordance with Article 24-5 of the LFS

shall complete the statistical ad-hoc tables II.1, II.2.A, II.2.B and II.3, respectively.

Note that the ad-hoc tables do not refer exclusively to investment firm activities but also include tables that refer to specialised PFS (PFS-SP) and support PFS (PFS-SU) activities and services. Investment firms authorised to provide such services shall complete the respective ad-hoc reporting tables.

Versions “L, N, S” (“L” – figures of the sole head office in Luxembourg, “N” – overall figures of the PFS including its branches, “S” – figures of the branch, as many tables as branches) are directly available through dedicated links in the “Forms” section hereafter.

For the instructions relating to the electronic transmission of this information, please refer to Circulars CSSF 08/369 and CSSF 23/833 including its related document “Methods of transmitting reports via external channels (Naming convention)” detailing encryption specifications for reporting firms.

The page File transport and data protection provides additional technical details regarding the transmission channels for periodic reporting.

The documents “Schedule of conditions” and “Explanations on the use of the Templates” include technical instructions for the transmission of periodic information. The documents are directly available through links in the “Guidance” section hereafter.

Please note that PFS shall under no circumstances modify the structure of the template or delete the tables that they are not required to fill out.

Table IF “Persons responsible for certain functions and activities” shall state the situation as at 31 December every year and shall be submitted to the CSSF by 20 January of the following year at the latest, as well as in case of any change that occurred during the year concerning the persons designated in this table.

Instructions relating to the filling of the table IF “Persons responsible for certain functions and activities” are available in the section “Guidance” hereafter.

The Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2284 of 10 December 2021 specifies the formats as well as the dates, definitions and instructions relating to the prudential declarations (hereinafter “IFR reporting”) to be complied with by IFR Investment Firms for the purposes of the IFR.

The IFD/IFR package subjects small and non-interconnected investment firms (hereinafter “Class 3 IF”) and investment firms other than small and non-interconnected investment firms (hereinafter “Class 2 IF”) to specific reporting requirements that are proportionate to the relative size, nature or complexity of their business model or risks. Accordingly, Class 3 IF are subject to a lighter reporting framework than Class 2 IF. Class 3 IF have to complete less reporting templates and have to report on a yearly frequency whereas the reporting templates applicable to Class 2 IF are more extensive and have to be submitted on a quarterly basis.

Investment firms shall prepare the IFR reporting on an individual basis and, where the investment firm is subject to consolidated supervision, on a consolidated basis.

Investment firms that are subject to a prudential consolidation in accordance with Article 7 of the IFR and therefore subject to consolidated supervision, shall in particular comply with the provisions of Article 7.1 of the IFR.

The IFD/IFR package differentiates investment firms that are systemically important or are exposed to the same types of risks as credit institutions (hereinafter “Class 1 IF”) from other investment firms. Class 1 IF are subject to a Common European Reporting for CRR investment firms. The relevant reporting instructions can be found below under chapter “Common European Reporting for CRR investment firms”.

In order to provide an overview of the investment firms’ periodical reporting requirements to the CSSF, the CSSF has published the following document:

• “Reporting Handbook for Investment Firms”

The aforementioned document is updated on a regular basis to account for changes in the applicable taxonomy, the relevant filing indicators and the EBA validation rules. The Reporting Handbook is directly available through a link in the “Guidance” section hereafter.

Detailed information on the IFR reporting and its updates may also be found on the EBA website under the following address EBA reporting frameworks | European Banking Authority (europa.eu).

The EBA also provides a comprehensive overview of the reporting requirements applicable for each reference date under the following address: Technical standards on reporting and disclosures for investment firms | European Banking Authority (europa.eu).

When preparing their IFR reports, investment firms shall pay due attention to the correct use of filing indicators and observe the EBA validation rules.

Filing indicators are elements allowing to identify the reporting templates that must be submitted by investment firms and thereby to signal to the CSSF/the EBA which templates of reporting modules they intend to report/not to report. Further detailed information thereon is available in the “Reporting Handbook for investment firms” under Chapter 5. Reporting format and technical specifications.

Class 2 and Class 3 investment firms shall also duly observe the EBA validation rules which can be accessed through the EBA website EBA reporting frameworks | European Banking Authority (europa.eu) under the currently applicable reporting framework.

Banks and the so-called CRR Investments firms share similarities as they are both subject to the Capital Requirement Directive and Capital Requirement Regulation. These institutions are producing all or a part of the EBA ITS reporting modules under XBRL format according to the applicable taxonomy. In this regard, CRR investment firms are invited to consult the “Reporting Handbook” (called “Reporting requirements for credit institutions”).

• “Tables, Instructions, DPM and validation rules”

The aforementioned documents are directly available through a link in the ”Forms” and “Guidance” sections hereafter.

CRR investment firms are, as banks, also concerned by validation rules laid down in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2021/451 of 17 December 2020 (repealing Implementing Regulation (EU) No 680/2014). The CSSF has published an Excel file (named “Status of problematic EBA Validation Rules”) containing a list of EBA “problematic” validation rules that have been subject to questioning either by reporting entities or by the CSSF itself. The CSSF also shares a complementary Word document explaining inter alia the different severity status.

In addition to the validation rules laid down in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 2021/451, the CSSF and the ECB carry out plausibility checks. The CSSF published a document (called “CSSF and ECB – Plausibility checks – Final version”) presenting these additional checks.

CSSF plausibility checks are applicable to both credit institutions and CRR investment firms as long as they are subject to the reporting of the modules on which the check is applied. The ECB EGDQ Checks are also applicable to both credit institutions and CRR investments firms as long as their reporting modules are transmitted to the ECB. For those institutions that are not subject to ECB reporting transmission, those EGDQ checks should be considered as best practices.

The aforementioned documents are directly available through links in the “Guides” section hereafter.