Publication of Circular CSSF 24/853 on the revised long form report for investment firms

The CSSF published today Circular CSSF 24/853 revising the framework of the long form report applicable to investment firms and amending the scope of application of Circular CSSF 03/113. The revision of the long form report is the result of a thorough reconsideration of its objective, scope and content in order to align it with supervisory and prudential points of focus of the CSSF. In this context, the revised long form report now focuses on central administration, internal governance, risk management requirements as well as MiFID and AML/CFT regulations.

Under the revised approach, investment firms shall provide annually self-certifications on key aspects of Circular CSSF 20/758 as well as MiFID regulations via a self-assessment questionnaire (SAQ), taking into consideration the nature, size and complexity of their business model. Their réviseur d’entreprises agréé (REA) shall provide dedicated reports allowing the CSSF to assess the investment firm’s compliance with relevant MiFID aspects, including provisions on the protection of financial instruments and funds belonging to clients as required under Article 7 of the Grand-ducal Regulation of 30 May 2018, and the relevant AML/CFT laws and regulations.

The completion and submission of the reports must be performed using online forms to be uploaded through a dedicated channel via the eDesk online portal of the CSSF. The portal will be accessible in the coming days and will contain a user guide on how to fill in the online forms to support entities in this new process.

The long form report can be submitted to the CSSF via the following channels:

• An online solution via eDesk procedure for manual input by the investment firms.
• An API solution based on the submission of a structured file (json format) through S3 (“simple storage service”) protocol, allowing to pre-populate the questionnaire in order to ease the process. This file will then pre-fill the questionnaire available on the CSSF eDesk platform. The entity will also be able to update directly in eDesk the data prefilled through S3.

In order to allow for a gradual implementation of the revised framework, Circular CSSF 24/853 will become applicable in a staggered manner: for the financial year ending 31 December 2023, all Class 2 IF incorporated under Luxembourg law, including their branches and certain Class 3 IF will be required to submit the revised LFR, whereas all other investment firms will remain subject to Circular CSSF 03/113. For financial years ending after 31 December 2023, all investment firms will have to submit the revised LFR in accordance with Circular CSSF 24/853.

Any question relating to this press release, Circular CSSF 24/853 or the revised long form report should be addressed to lfrei@cssf.lu by copying your usual point of contact at the CSSF.

Any technical questions regarding the communication channels mentioned above should be addressed to edesk@cssf.lu.