Guidance Notice on Reporting Obligations of AIF Management Companies under Section 35 of the KAGB

StartseiteUeberschrift

Companies & Markets

Law & Regulation

Administrative practice

Guidance notices

The reporting obligations set out in section 35 of the KAGB include both reports on the level of the AIF management company itself ( AIFM reports pursuant to section 35 (1) of the KAGB ) and on the level of the individual investment funds ( AIF reports pursuant to section 35 (2) and (4) of the KAGB ). In addition, the precise specifications of the reporting obligations pursuant to section 35 (8) of the KAGB are governed by the provisions stipulated in Article 110 of the Commission Delegated Regulation ( EU ) No 231/2013.

Business sign: WA 41-Wp 2137-2013/0035

16.07.2014

Annex IV of Commission Delegated Regulation (
EU
) No 231/2013 is particularly important in this context as it sets out the specific content of the information to be reported. In order to ensure a harmonised Europe-wide reporting procedure, the European Securities and Markets Authority ( ESMA ) has additionally issued a number of further standards regarding the procedure, the content and the form of the reports.

This Guidance Notice explains the reporting procedure for AIF management companies pursuant to section 35 of the KAGB . They specify in particular the format, the reporting channel and the start of the submission of the reports. Questions regarding the content of the reports are not answered in this Guidance Notice. The Guidelines on the AIFMD reporting obligations prepared by ESMA ( Guidelines on reporting obligations under Articles 3(3)(d) and 24(1), (2) and (4) of the AIFMD , Ref.

ESMA
/2013/1339) apply with regard to the content of the reports and the further reporting procedure to the extent not otherwise stipulated in this Guidance Notice. ESMA has also prepared a Q&A document on this topic ( Ref.

ESMA
/2014/714).

Data may only be reported to
BaFin in
XML format in accordance with the specifications published by ESMA . The current versions of the XML -documents (V1.2.) are available on the ESMA website ( Ref.

ESMA
2013/1361
). Reports must be submitted using this version. The report consists of one XML file containing the AIFM reports and one XML file which summarises all AIF reports. Submitting one single XML file for each AIF is not permitted. In order to facilitate completion of the different fields, ESMA has published IT technical guidance ( Ref.

ESMA
2013/1358).

The
XML files must be submitted electronically via BaFin's reporting and publishing platform (MVP-Portal). No other form of transmission is permissible. The technical specifications are provided on the information pages of the MVP Portal. German AIF management companies can already register for the MVP specialised procedure (the relevant procedure is called " AIFMD -Berichtswesen" ( AIFMD reporting)). The authentication process should be initiated as soon as possible so that the account for the specialised procedure is active as soon as reports need to be submitted. More detailed information on registration on the MVP-Portal can be found on BaFin's website.

If the reports are not submitted by the German AIF management company, the application for the specialised procedure must be accompanied by a valid power of attorney.

It will probably be possible to submit test reports to BaFin via the MVP Portal during the period between 1 February 2015 and 28 February 2015. These test reports will help to identify possible sources of error at an early stage and eliminate them before proper reporting is due to start. Further information on the test reporting procedure will be published in good time.

Submission of reports will probably start on 16 March 2015 and will initially comprise all reports of German AIF management companies with retrospective effect from the start of each reporting obligation. Submission of these retrospective reports must be completed by 31 March 2015 at the latest. The reference date for the beginning of the reporting obligation for German AIF management companies applying the transitional provisions of the KAGB is the date of receipt of the application for registration or the application for authorisation. For all other German AIF management companies, the reference date shall be the date of authorisation or registration ( cf. Q&A ID 1176 of the European Commission). The reporting obligation will commence from the first quarter after the reference date. The reporting period will depend on the respective frequency of reporting.

Example: An existing German
AIF management company applied to
BaFin for authorisation on 13 February 2014. Thus, the reference date is 13 February 2014 and the reporting obligation will commence on 1 April 2014. If this German AIF management company and the funds under its management were now subject to a quarterly reporting obligation, the retrospective reporting period would comprise one report for the reporting period 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014, one report for the reporting period 1 July 2014 to 30 September 2014 and one report for the reporting period 1 October 2014 to 31 December 2014. In the case of a half-yearly reporting obligation, the applicable reporting periods would be 1 April 2014 to 30 June 2014 and 1 July 2014 to 31 December 2014. In the case of a yearly reporting obligation, the reporting period would be 1 April 2014 to 31 December 2014.

Following submission of the retrospective reports, the first standardised reporting cycle will probably commence on 1 April 2015. Thus, reports must be submitted for the reporting date 31 March 2015, i.e. all reports from AIFMs subject to a quarterly reporting obligation must be submitted as of this reporting date. The corresponding reporting period will comprise the period from 1 January 2015 to 31 March 2015. Any following reports will have to be dated according to the ESMA provisions. It follows from this that the next reporting date will be 30 June 2015. German AIF management companies subject to a quarterly reporting obligation for at least one AIF or the AIFM must submit the report for the reporting period from 1 April 2015 to 30 June 2015 on this date. German AIF management companies subject to a half-yearly reporting obligation must submit the report for the reporting period from 1 January 2015 to 30 June 2015 on this date. German AIF management companies subject to a yearly reporting obligation need not submit any report on this date. The respective time limits for the submission of the reports are also subject to the provisions of the ESMA guidelines.

The reporting party can view the respective status of the data it has already submitted in the MVP Portal. The submitted data are reviewed in terms of content and form by both BaFin and ESMA in accordance with the guidelines published by ESMA in order to detect any reporting errors. The reporting party is notified of any formal errors immediately. Reviews by BaFin and ESMA regarding the contents will probably take 2 to 3 days. The reporting party will only be informed of incorrect reports via the MVP Portal. The information provided via the MVP Portal will not be forwarded additionally to the reporting party, and the MVP Portal does not provide for automatic forwarding, either. It is therefore essential that reporting parties actively and regularly check the status of their reports on the MVP Portal until the reporting procedure has been successfully completed. Reports that are identified as erroneous must be corrected and resubmitted in their entirety ( i.e. the entire file including all AIF/AIFM must be resubmitted). BaFin will aim to set up a permanent test environment for its internal review routines in which reports to be submitted can be checked in advance without receiving administrative questions if errors occur. Further information on the procedure in the event of error messages will be published in due time.

The additional reports presented in the
ESMA
Opinion vorgestellten zusätzlichen Meldungen ( Ref.

ESMA
2013/1340) will not be required initially.
BaFin reserves the right to require these reports at a later point in time.

Additional information

Kapitalanlagegesetzbuch (
KAGB
)

Did you find this article helpful?

Feedback

Your feedback helps us to continuously improve the website and to keep it up to date. If you have any questions and would like us to contact you, please use our contact form.

Rating

helpful

less helpful

Do you have any further feedback?

Comment ( max. 1000 characters):

Mandatory field