European Securities and Markets Authority Recommends Regulatory Forbearance for Funds’ Periodic Reporting Obligations

The European Securities and Markets Authority has announced its expectation that national regulators should, where possible, deprioritize supervisory action against certain fund managers for failure to comply with periodic financial reporting deadlines for funds they manage for the periods ending from December 31, 2019 to April 30, 2020 (inclusive). The fund managers covered by ESMA’s statement are: (i) undertakings for the collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) management companies; (ii) self-managed UCITS investment companies; (iii) authorized alternative investment fund managers; (iv) non-EU AIFMs marketing AIFs; (v) European Venture Capital Fund managers; and (vi) European Social Entrepreneurship managers.

Under the UCITS Directive, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive and the European Venture Capital Fund and European Social Entrepreneurship Fund Regulations, the fund managers listed above are required to prepare and publish audited annual (and, in the case of UCITS, half-yearly) financial reports for the funds they manage. In light of the challenges presented by COVID-19, national regulators are expected not to prioritize enforcement of fund managers’ obligations for the following time periods:
 

• Two months following the usual deadline for annual reports covering year-ends occurring on or after December 31, 2019 but before April 1, 2020;
• One month following the usual deadline for annual reports covering year-ends occurring on or after April 1, 2020 but before May 1, 2020; and
• One month following the usual deadline for UCITS’ half-yearly reports covering the reporting period ending on or after January 31, 2020 but before April 1, 2020.

Fund managers should promptly inform national regulators if they anticipate their publication of reports will be delayed beyond the usual regulatory deadlines and should notify investors as soon as practicable (with accompanying reasons and, if possible, an estimated publication date).

View ESMA's statement on regulatory forbearance for periodic reporting by EU fund managers.

Details of other regulatory responses to COVID-19 are available on our COVID-19 Research Center.
 
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