Integrated Reporting Framework Services

What EY can do for you

The Banks' Integrated Reporting Dictionary (BIRD) and the Integrated Reporting Framework (IReF) are initiatives of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) aimed at harmonizing the requirements for regulatory reporting in the European Union (EU). Currently, there is significant heterogeneity regarding data definitions, reporting processes, and reporting deadlines.

What is IReF and BIRD all about?

IReF initially includes — a first draft of the specific IReF requirements that is expected in 2026 — the integration of various statistical reporting requirements (monthly balance sheet statistics, MFI interest statistics, statistics on securities investments (SHS), and AnaCredit). The integration of additional requirements (FinRep, CoRep, Resolution, etc.) may occur in subsequent IReF phases or at a later date as part of the Integrated Reporting System (IRS) initiative of the European Banking Authority (EBA). IReF is mandatory and must be implemented by all credit institutions.

BIRD defines a standard data model and provides uniform definitions for the data points included in the reporting packages, which eliminates redundancies and ambiguities. The BIRD data model can largely be transformed 1:1 into the IReF Collection Layer; alternatively, corresponding transformation rules are provided. The implementation of BIRD is currently optional.

IReF and BIRD: implementation options

Different possibilities exist for the implementation of BIRD and/or IReF. Possible approaches include: "IReF only," "IReF first/BIRD later," or "BIRD and IReF." The right implementation approach depends on several factors such as size of the institution, complexity of the business model, cross-border activities, quality of the data to be reported, reporting processes and systems used, and the degree of standardization in reporting in general. For internationally operating credit institutions, one of the biggest challenges may lie in harmonizing data across their jurisdictions. Therefore, they should start their implementation efforts for IReF early.

BIRD implementation

Implementing BIRD requires higher upfront investment, but it offers long-term benefits. Due to the level of standardization, it will be easier in the future to integrate automation solutions into the reporting landscape — such as in the areas of data quality, data transformation, and data comparison or analysis. Furthermore, the effort for ad-hoc inquiries from the supervisory authority is reduced, as the data is provided in a standard format. At the same time, the dependency on reporting software vendors is reduced —this allows institutions greater flexibility.

IReF implementation

For institutions that use a market-standard software solution for reporting, there is the option to limit themselves to the implementation of IReF (without implementing BIRD). This can reduce implementation efforts by reusing the data model of the reporting software provider or a suitable internal data model (if available).

The prerequisite here is that the above data model provides the granularity required by IReF.

Paradigm Shift in Regulatory Reporting

Together, BIRD and IReF represent a paradigm shift in statistical reporting. The regulator's goal is to transition from template-based reporting to data-based reporting. Institutions must provide the data points according to the requirements of IReF.

The data will be consolidated in a central location, where various authorities can access it and use or evaluate it for their respective purposes. This is intended to lead to a significant reduction in the effort required for report preparation within the institution in the long term. The regulator's motto is: "Define Once, Report Once, Regulate Once." However, it remains to be seen whether institutions will still need to create templates internally for comparison purposes. This may be necessary initially for a certain period until a stable and high-quality IReF reporting is achieved.

For this purpose, the European Central Bank (ECB) plans a pilot phase and a potentially longer parallel reporting phase. It will lead to higher resource requirements for institutions during these phases, which they should consider in their internal planning to allocate resources for this period if necessary.

How EY Can Help

EY teams can provide broad support for the implementation of IReF and BIRD:

• EY can work with you to develop a concept with all necessary action steps regarding BIRD/IReF—tailored to your specific systems and processes.
  
  
• If you decide to implement BIRD, EY professionals can assist you in conducting a gap analysis to evaluate the alignment of your existing data warehouse with the BIRD definitions.
  
  
• EY can present various approaches to IReF implementation and help you find the best approach for your situation.
  
  
• Building on the EY organization's extensive experience in regulatory projects, the team can create a detailed roadmap for an end-to-end implementation — with a focus on helping you achieve high‑quality reporting capabilities with IReF.
  
  
• EY teams can adjust your data governance framework and set up appropriate data controls to help ensure data quality in an integrated data architecture. This will also assist you in complying with BCBS 239 principles.
  
  
• EY can integrate current technologies into your reporting landscape to support you in automating regulatory reporting processes as part of the IReF implementation, for example cloud solutions, AI solutions and automation tools. Additionally, EY professionals can provide you with further tools for analysis or comparison with the current reporting framework.
  
  
• For internationally active institutions: the team can assist you in analyzing and harmonizing your data across jurisdictions to prepare for the IReF implementation.