The European Securities and Markets Authority has published a consultation paper on its proposed guidelines for national regulators on the reporting obligations placed on alternative fund managers under Articles 3 and 24 of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive.
The guidelines have been drawn up to assist the national securities market regulators of European Union member states by providing clarification on the information that managers should provide to their regulators, the timing of reporting, and the procedures to be followed when managers move from one reporting obligation to another.
The consultation paper also includes the reporting template set out in Regulation 231/2013, and a diagram summarising managers’ reporting obligations, depending on the total value of their assets under management and the nature of the alternative investment funds they manage or market in the EU.
If ESMA’s current recommendations are adopted, managers that fall outside the scope of the full AIFM Directive authorisation requirement, with assets of less than €100m, or €500m if unleveraged and with a five-year lock-up, will be required to report once a year, by the last business day of January for the previous year.
Alternative managers falling within the authorisation requirement with assets between €100m and €1bn will have to report half-yearly, by the last business day of July and January respectively for the first and second halves of the year, and managers running more than €1bn in assets will have to report quarterly at the end of April, July, October and January.
In addition, reporting is required quarterly for each alternative fund with assets greater than €500m. Reporting must be made annually for all unleveraged funds investing in non-listed companies and issuers with the aim of gaining control, a measure targeting private equity vehicles. Reporting on behalf of funds of funds an benefit from an extension of up to 15 days beyond the deadlines set out by ESMA.
The first reporting period for all existing alternative managers and any others authorised or registered between July 23 to December 31, 2013 will cover this period, with reporting due by January 31, 2014, after which managers will follow the frequency laid down for the level of assets they run.
The paper, which also provides stakeholders with detailed IT guidance for XML filing, is accompanied by the publication of the reporting XSD schema (ESMA/2013/599) that alternative fund managers will have to use to report the information under Articles 3 and 24 to national regulators. ESMA is also seeking feedback from stakeholders on the reporting schema.
The authority says it will consider all comments received by July 1. It will use feedback from the consultation in finalising the guidelines on reporting obligations under Articles 3 and 24 of the directive.