In December 2023, the European Central Bank (ECB) initiated a public consultation process for the revision of the ECB Regulation on investment fund statistics. Additional reporting obligations for investment funds are introduced as part of the revision. Specifically, an extended breakdown of data on the balance sheets of investment funds is required. Additionally, mandatory disclosures of costs and adjustments in the reporting logic of financial derivatives are foreseen.
Use Case: The ECB investment fund statistics and FundsXML in Austria
The ECB’s reporting requirements in Austria are integrated into the Austrian National Banks (OeNB) reporting obligations of investment funds. FundsXML has been successfully used for many years to meet the ECB investment fund statistics obligations. The processing is centrally managed through a system operated by Austrian Control Bank (OeKB) – the OeKB Fund Data Portal. The OeKB Fund Data Portal allows investment fund management companies to exchange fund data via an electronic platform in the FundsXML format. Notably, the data usage for the ECB investment fund statistics reporting is controlled entirely by the reporting investment fund management companies through a simple authorization concept.
Subsequently, the OeKB transmits data for domestic investment funds to the OeNB. As this data transmission must meet specific minimum requirements set by the OeNB, the OeKB only transmits the aggregated reports after the data has been checked using validation rules and no validation rule errors are found.
The above procedure ensures a fully automated process that reduces the administrative burden on investment fund management companies in providing data and reduces the risk of human error.