Delay to ESEF standard reporting

The FCA has published information about changes to the way issuers file their annual financial reports to the FCA for publication on the National Storage Mechanism (supporting implementation of the European Single Electronic Format).

Policy statement PS20/14 sets out the FCA’s decision to delay implementation of the ESEF standard by 1 year so it will now only be mandatory for financial years starting after 1 January 2021.  The FCA has also confirmed that firms still have the option to file in the ESEF before that but it won’t become mandatory yet.

The policy statement also includes practical changes about how annual financial reports are to be filed.