A group industry associations have signed a letter which supports the International Swaps and Derivatives Association's (Isda) principles which aim to improve consistency in regulatory reporting standards for derivatives.

The Isda principles include a call for harmonisation of reporting standards across borders, and for further development and adoption of global data standards. Isda says that the changes are needed as a result of emerging challenges in the cross-border implementation of derivatives reporting rules.

The associations acknowledge that significant progress has been made in meeting a G-20 requirement for all derivatives to be reported to trade repositories. However, a lack of standardisation and consistency in reporting requirements within and across jurisdictions has led to concerns about the quality of the data being reported. 

Poor data quality, the associations say, reduces the value of the data for regulators and limits their ability to fulfill supervisory responsibilities. Differences in reporting requirements also increase the cost and complexity for firms that have reporting obligations in multiple jurisdictions.

The Associations say that the Isda principles will go some way to ensuring greater consistency in the content and format of the data being reported which will both further improving regulatory transparency and benefit market participants through greater specificity and harmonisation in their reporting across multiple regimes.

Signatories were: 

• The Australian Financial Market Association (AFMA) 
• The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA)
• British Bankers’ Association (BBA)
• The German Investment Funds Association (BVI)
• The European Fund and Asset Management Association (Efama)
• The Futures Industry Association (FIA Global)
• The Global Foreign Exchange Division (GFXD) of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA) 
• ISDA
• The Managed Funds Association (MFA)
• The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and its Asset Management Group (SIFMA AMG)
• The Investment Association