Regulatory Reporting and Submission of Financial Documentation through the MFSA Licence Holder Portal

On the 17^th October 2019, the MFSA (the “Authority“) issued a circular on the submission of regulatory reporting in relation to collective investment schemes, recognised persons and investment services licence holders. As from 31^st October 2019 recognised persons and licence holders must submit all regulatory reporting through the Authority’s Licence Holder Portal (“LH Portal“). The aim of this development is to facilitate and expedite the process of submission of financial statements and other regulatory reporting to the Authority.Notwithstanding this, hard copies should still be submitted to the Authority in all cases for the time being.

Access to the LH Portal will only be granted to the compliance officers of licence holders and recognised persons, in relation to their respective projects and depending on the type of licence, or recognition certificate, held by such licence holder or recognised person. Compliance officers should receive an automated email communication confirming granted access to the LH portal by today. If such a communication is not received, or if the licence holder or recognised person wishes to add an additional user, a request should be submitted directly to the Authority on lhportalinvestments@mfsa.mt. A request to add an additional user must be authorised by the respective compliance officer.

Any returns are to be submitted in excel format, whereas other financial documentation, such as annual reports and related confirmations, are to be submitted in pdf format. A maximum of three zipped files simultaneously amounting to a total of 15mb may be uploaded. Moreover, the user must ensure that only zipped folders are uploaded to the LH portal, and that the proper naming convention and format is followed, as otherwise the uploads would be rejected.

This development could be seen as the first step in creating a more efficient and environmentally friendly method of submitting documents to the Authority.

For further guidance on how to access the LH portal and upload reports correctly, please refer to the Guidelines.