meta_id 3122840

On May 4, 2026, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its Final Report on the integrated collection of funds' data, submitted to the European Commission under Article 69a(2) of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) and Article 20b of the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Directive. The report outlines ESMA's recommendations for developing a feasible and proportionate integrated reporting system for investment funds across the European Union. The report identifies significant fragmentation in the current reporting landscape, with overlapping and duplicative requirements across multiple EU-level and national frameworks, including AIFMD, UCITS, Money Market Funds Regulation (MMFR), and European Central Bank (ECB) statistical reporting. ESMA recommends establishing a single, modular and dynamic reporting template to replace fragmented regimes, supported by a common regulatory data dictionary with harmonised semantics. The proposed architecture would maintain national data collection while transmitting all reported information to a centralised EU-level hub operated by ESMA, enabling centralised validation, data sharing and analytics. ESMA recommends adopting ISO 20022 XML as the standard reporting format and implementing proportionality principles through modular reporting structures, differentiated frequencies and granularity calibration. The implementation will follow a phased approach. Phase 1 will consolidate AIFMD and UCITS supervisory reporting requirements, with ESMA targeting draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) and Implementing Technical Standards (ITS) by April 2027. Phase 2 will extend integration to MMFR and statistical reporting frameworks. ESMA anticipates Phase 1 implementation by 2029 at the earliest, contingent on timely Commission adoption and stakeholder adaptation. The report emphasises that successful implementation requires significant financial and human resources at ESMA and national level, enhanced data-sharing agreements between supervisory and statistical authorities, and robust governance arrangements involving NCAs, ECB, NCBs and other relevant authorities. REFERENCES: European Securities and Markets Authority. (2026). Final Report on the integrated collection of funds' data (ESMA12-2121844265-5150). Retrieved from https://www.esma.europa.eu/