In an effort to ease regulatory burdens, European regulators are consulting on measures to streamline financial reporting.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a couple of consultation papers that aim to identify opportunities for simplifying regulatory reporting requirements, in an effort to ease compliance costs without sacrificing oversight or investor protection.
“As part of ESMA’s broader burden reduction efforts, we want to streamline the transaction reporting framework, which we know constitutes a significant cost for market participants,” said Verena Ross, chair of ESMA, in a release.
Specifically, regulators are looking for ways to “rationalize data flows, harmonize processes and eliminate duplicative or inconsistent requirements,” she said.
ESMA said that its consultation highlights some of the issues that market players have previously identified in discussions with regulators, particularly overlapping reporting regimes, duplicative reporting channels, and “the burdens created by frequent and unsynchronized regulatory changes.”
The deadline for providing feedback on the consultation is Sept. 19. ESMA aims to publish a final report by the start of 2026 that will set out its proposed approach to addressing these burdens.
In a separate publication, ESMA also issued a consultation paper on data reporting by investment funds, which aims to reduce regulatory burdens in that space too.
“Funds reporting in the asset management sector is now subject to significant fragmentation due to the coexistence of several reporting regimes at national and European level, resulting in high compliance burdens,” ESMA noted.
In its paper, the regulators set out options for improving fund reporting, such as revising the sort of data that’s collected, reforming reporting processes and systems, and improving data sharing between regulatory authorities.
That consultation closes Sept. 21, and ESMA plans to issue a final report with recommendations in April 2026.
“The time is right to look at reporting frameworks in a more comprehensive manner and present options to achieve simplification and burden reduction. The goal is to reduce complexity and costs for stakeholders while enhancing data quality, sharing and usability,” Ross said.