Future of regulatory reporting

Discover how the expanding regulatory reporting landscape is reshaping the future for banks and how together with PwC you can enhance efficiency, transparency, and compliance of your reports

In recent decades, European banks have faced a growing number of regulatory reporting demands. These include AnaCredit, BSI, MIR, SHS-S, SHS-G, BIS LBS, IMF SFR, COREP, and FINREP Group, among others. Adding to the complexity, each country imposes its own distinct requirements and varying derogation policies. Consequently, banks face significant pressure, requiring additional time, manpower, and financial resources to meet these regulatory obligations while ensuring report accuracy and timeliness.

A crucial shift in regulatory reporting

To address the complexity of regulatory requirements, the ECB is leading initiatives such as IReF and BIRD. These initiatives aim to simplify data collection processes, streamline reporting procedures, and enhance the overall quality of submitted data by defining a uniform process for statistical reporting (IReF) as well as a Data model (BIRD).

IReF and BIRD

IReF

IReF, "Integrated Reporting Framework“, aims to streamline statistical reporting processes for banks across the Eurozone Area.

Proposed by the ECB, its objective is to merge multiple reports into one, harmonizing practices among National Central Banks. With IReF, banks would provide more detailed data, allowing the ECB and National Central Banks to construct various statistical indicators independently.

Initially covering AnaCredit, BSI, MIR, and SHS-S reporting requirements, the ECB is considering expanding IReF's scope to include other statistical reporting requirements.

IReF is set to become legally binding. The legislative body is expected to adopt the regulation in January 2026, with the first IReF report scheduled for January 2027.

BIRD

BIRD, "Banks' Integrated Reporting Dictionary“, is a collaborative effort between the ESCB (European System of Central Banks) and the banking industry.

It aims to design a unified data dictionary, data model, and transformation rules for generating regulatory reports.

BIRD specifies the data extraction process from banks' internal IT systems and provides guidelines for transforming it into the required reports for authorities. By offering a centralized dictionary and transformation rules, BIRD helps reduce reporting discrepancies, ensuring consistent and high-quality data from banks, thus enhancing supervisory efficiency and alleviating reporting burdens.

BIRD is a voluntary standard developed in collaboration with major European banks. Nevertheless, BIRD will be the underlying technology for IReF.

Unlock efficiency with PwC

PwC has formed a dedicated global team of reporting specialists who are actively engaged in ECB initiatives.

We are committed to simplifying regulatory compliance and enhancing reporting precision for banks by leveraging our expertise, innovative technologies, and collaborative approach to address the evolving challenges in the financial industry.

PwC’s Accelerators

Our tailored accelerators empower banks to:

Directly leverage ECB Initiatives
Maintain control over reported data
Create efficient data storage and generate regulatory reports
Extend storage to encompass national and internal reports

Efficiently handle manual data corrections
Deploy the solution within your preferred IT environment — whether in the cloud or on-premises
Utilize GenAI to pinpoint the essential data within source databases

How can you benefit from BIRD and cooperation with PwC?

The adoption of BIRD can help banks to address several challenges they are facing related to regulatory reporting:

Challenges Faced by Banks	Advantages of Adopting BIRD
Inadequate data quality in regulatory reporting, possibly resulting in audit issue	Enhancement of Data Quality BIRD promotes standardization and harmonization of data processing and report preparation, leading to improved data quality controls and enhancements.
Time and money spent on regulatory report preparation	Boost in Reporting Efficiency BIRD and IReF provide an efficient data model and simplify reporting requirements, making the reporting process more efficient.
Consolidating reports for multinational financial groups	Harmonized Reporting BIRD and IReF facilitate cross-border comparisons and compliance, making it easier to consolidate reporting in international financial groups.
Recent merges or acquisitions	Streamlined Integration BIRD provides a standardized framework that can ease the integration of data and reporting systems following a merger or acquisition.
Transitioning to a new core banking system	Smooth Transition The standardized data model provided by BIRD can aid in the transition when changing core banking systems, ensuring consistency in regulatory reporting.
Complex reporting for smaller banks	Proportional Reporting IReF adjusts reporting demands based on institution size and complexity, preventing smaller banks from facing excessive burdens.
Lack of a long-term regulatory reporting strategy	Strategic Realignment BIRD and IReF, integral to the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) strategy, drive faster, standardized reporting, aligning banks with the vision of long-term regulatory efficiency.