IReF objective

The Integrated Reporting Framework (IReF), an initiative by the European Central Bank (ECB), has a clear objective: to streamline banks’ statistical reporting processes across the Eurozone. This initiative will merge several reports into one and ensure complementary practices among national central banks.

Under IReF, banks would provide the ECB with more granular data, and the ECB (along with the central banks) would then have complete independence to develop the relevant statistical indicators.

Timelines

Banks operating in the Eurozone from 2027 will be required to deliver significantly more data points to the ECB compared with their existing statistical/supervisory reporting requirements (which will be replaced by IReF). Initially, the scope of replacement will cover balance sheet items (BSI), monetary interest rates (MIR), securities holding statistics (SHSS), analytical credit (AnaCredit) datasets, balance of payments (BoP) and financial reporting (FINREP).

With a go-live timeline of 2027, banks are expected to be test-run ready by the second half of 2026; most banks will start working on the IReF reporting framework from early 2025 onwards.

Cost impacts

To be compliant with the IReF requirements, banks need to factor in three main costs:

  • Parallel run costs

    As per the current published timeline, banks will be required to do a six-month test with live data in H2 2026, followed by a two-year parallel run from 2027-28.
    This could result in a doubling of infrastructure, application and resource costs.

  • Data management

    Banks will be required to source large amounts of data at an unprecedented level of granularity, potentially changing institutions’ interfaces with upstream systems. Moreover, data quality checks and validations will be more complex, as banks will be required to reconcile their general ledger numbers with the underlying granular data. Nonetheless, requirements around data lineage and governance will be equally important in terms of regulatory audits.
    Banks will likely have to invest in a strategic platform that can handle the complex data management process while also providing the flexibility needed to consolidate granular risk and finance data.

  • Automation and technology upgrades

    A massive increase in data volumes means that banks will have to validate their existing infrastructure and invest in technologies to automate the reporting workflow process.
    They will also have to invest in cloud infrastructures to collect and process the granular data required from various upstream systems.

IReF is going to have the biggest impact of any new upcoming regulation (…) it will be a paradigm shift.

Expert interviews Analyst Research Findings 2023

A framework for success

Regnology is more than prepared for the shift to granular data reporting, with a proven non-redundant, granular-sourced data model developed over 25 years. Our IReF-specific solution addresses key implementation challenges, ensuring data availability and quality, standing up granular data workflows and increasing speed and volume of data processing.

Leveraging our expertise in RegTech and SupTech along with a unique perspective from working with both regulators and the regulated, Regnology is built for a future of regulatory reporting that is defined by granular data. One key feature of our platform is powerful data visualization – data dictionaries, models and processing logic all enable automation and simplification for data transformation, report generation and distribution, enabling financial institutions to respond faster to new requirements. 

Our cloud-based architecture enables nearly endless scale and ease of interfacing, so users can work with granular data directly on their screens. Our robust suite of data management tools facilitate easy processing and effective validation checks and correction mechanisms throughout the reporting lifecycle, helping to manage larger volumes.

Excerpt of a series of Point of View research articles from Chartis and Regnology.

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