The EBA’s feasibility study on integrated reporting system provides a long-term vision for increasing efficiencies and reducing reporting costs

• The EBA study concludes that an integrated reporting system (IRS) could be feasible to achieve.
• Achieving an integrated reporting system will require strong commitment from all parties involved so as to ensure further data comparability, data sharing and coordination of reporting processes.
• Setting up a common data dictionary is the first building block of the IRS, which will enable further data standardisation and promote the use of common definitions through the different reporting frameworks.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) published today its final Report on the feasibility study of an integrated reporting system (IRS).  This Report is the outcome of over two years of effort and active engagement of both national and European authorities, as well as interaction with financial institutions, professional associations and specialised service providers. This study is part of a broader strategy of the European Commission to improve and modernise EU supervisory reporting while minimising the aggregate reporting burden for all parties.

The Report puts forward a long-term vision on how the reporting processes could be streamlined and improved for both institutions and competent authorities and how cooperation among the latter could be enhanced in the area of prudential, resolution and supervisory reporting.

The Report identifies what are the feasible immediate next steps to move towards integration and what areas require further investigation. Developing the common data dictionary by defining business glossaries and common data models, drawing best practices for data integration and providing an estimate of the resources needed to achieve the integration objectives are a few of the short-term action points that could serve as a basis for building a more detailed roadmap for the Joint Reporting Committee.

Developing a more integrated system should be done mindful of the progress already achieved in the area of integration so far. Any change should be implemented gradually so as not to disrupt the current processes and should foster the principle of proportionality.

The EBA is committed to further contributing to the building of a common vision of integrated reporting across prudential, resolution and statistical reporting in cooperation with the relevant stakeholders, to leverage on the work already done and, on the lessons learned from the different European and national initiatives. The feasibility study is part of the EBA contribution to the EU supervisory data strategy aiming to improve efficiency of reporting across financial sectors. 

Legal basis and next steps

Article 430c of the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) mandates the EBA to develop a Report on the feasibility regarding the development of a consistent and integrated system for collecting statistical, resolution, and prudential data. The EBA was mandated to produce such a study to investigate ways to potentially reduce reporting costs and increase efficiencies of the reporting process. 

This final Report builds on the analysis and feedback received by the EBA to its comprehensive discussion paper published in March 2021.