Compliance Support

Scheduled reporting requirements

The Financial Services Rule Book 2016 confirms the reporting requirements for all regulated activities. For ease of reference, the Authority has summarised these requirements within a table of reporting requirements.

Annual Financial, Audit, and Regulatory Returns

Every licenceholder (excluding those that only conduct class 8(1), 8(2)(b) and/or 8(3)) is required to complete and submit certain information within four months after its financial year end in accordance with the Financial Services Rule Book 2016. This information broadly comprises of an Annual Regulatory Return (comprised of a number of elements), an Annual Financial Return, and certain audit confirmations. There are also some additional sector specific requirements.

There are two Annual Regulatory Return forms, one for the majority of licenceholders and a short form which is solely for professional officers, licensed under Class 4 or 5.

Annual Regulatory Return: Word document and pdf document
Professional Officers’ Annual Regulatory Return: Word document and pdf document

In order to help licenceholders prepare and compile all the submissions required to be sent to the Authority within four months after a financial year-end, we have prepared "annual returns checklists” to assist compliance, accessible from the table below.

Incorporated licenceholders		Are you incorporated in the Isle of Man?
		Yes	No
Do you hold a Class 1 licence?	Yes	Checklist 1	Checklist 2
	No	Checklist 3	Checklist 4
Professional Officers		Checklist 5
Audit Exception (ceases for financial year-ends in 2024 and thereafter)		Checklist 6

Please send a copy of the relevant checklist with your returns. Whilst it is not compulsory to use the checklist, it should help you to comply and help us to check for completeness. The completeness check is carried out by us on receipt of your return. This is a limited check; any omissions identified during this check will be notified to you promptly. Other questions may arise at a later stage during the Authority's substantive review of the return.

Please note the checklists are not legal documents, but are produced by the Authority to assist licenceholders to comply with the Financial Services Rule Book. It is a licenceholder’s responsibility to ensure that its regulatory returns are submitted and received by the Authority by the due date. Submission dates for the regulatory returns are detailed in the individual rules.

Licenceholders are subject to civil penalties if certain returns are not submitted on time. Penalties are based on length of delay and frequency of late submission of financial returns. Please see the Financial Services (Civil Penalties) Regulations 2015.

Quarterly Financial Returns and calculations

All Class 1 licenceholders and many Class 2 and Class 3 licenceholders report using the Authority's Financial Reporting System. Class 4 and 5 licenceholders do not use the Financial Reporting System, but should find the material useful, as all except professional officers are required to carry out financial resources calculations.

A user guide for the Financial Reporting System can be found here.

Financial Resources Requirements (Returns) (excluding class 1, class 8(1), 8(2)(b), 8(3) and professional officers)

The document "Procedural Instructions for financial returns" contains information about the calculation of financial returns, extracts from the relevant Parts of the Rule Book and some specific guidance. The document is accompanied by a spreadsheet to assist licenceholders in the calculations. It is primarily relevant to licenceholders in Classes 2 and 3 who report using the Financial Reporting System, but should also assist licenceholders in Classes 4 and 5 and those licenceholders in Classes 2 and 3 who do not report using the Financial Reporting System.

Quarterly Prudential Returns for Class 1

The document "Quarterly Prudential Returns" contains information to assist Class 1 licenceholders in the completion of interim returns via the electronic reporting system. The returns are completed via the following spreadsheets:

Rule 3.6 - Client's Account Information

Appendix 5 (Client Money Information Sheet) of the Financial Services Rule Book 2016 has been revoked and the specified Clients’ Account Information can now be found here (PDF / Word). It is not necessary to send all of the material to every client, the form indicates which paragraphs must or may be sent out to clients of each Class of licenceholder.

Rule 6.72 - Provision of statistical information

Applicable to	Form description	Reporting frequency and deadlines
Class 1 licenceholders (banks)	Bank of International Settlements (“BIS”) returns. Banks should use the BIS template and refer to the BIS guidance notes. A user guide for BIS reporting on the Financial Reporting System can be found here.	Every calendar quarter, due within 2 months after the quarter end.
Class 1 licenceholders (banks)	Financial Flow Statistics. Banks should use this spreadsheet to provide the data. There is also guidance for the Financial Flows Return.	Every calendar quarter, due within 1 month after the quarter end.
Class 1 licenceholders (banks)	Banking Conditions Survey. Banks who have been classified as a D-SIB should use this template to complete the survey.	Every calendar quarter, due within 1 month after the quarter end.
Class 2 licenceholders (financial advisors - any combination of class 2(3), (6) and (7) only)	Annual statistical return – financial advisors. Financial advisory firms should use this template and guidance to complete their return. Banks that conduct this class 2 activity are not required to complete this return.	Annually for the calendar year. Due within 4 months (30 April).
Class 2 and Class 3 licenceholders (excluding financial advisory firms)	Annual statistical return – investment / fund services. Investment and fund services firms should use this template and guidance to complete their return. Banks that conduct this class 2 or class 3 activity are not required to complete this return. Class 4/5 firms that hold associated ancillary permissions (e.g. class 3 services to exempt schemes) are not required to complete this return.	Annually for the calendar year. Due within 4 months (30 April).
Class 3 licenceholders (fund management / administration only)	Fund statistics. Class 3 fund managers and administrators provide statistical information about funds via the Authority's online reporting portal. Here is a template CIS statistics reporting spreadsheet. Class 4/5 firms that hold class 3 permissions (e.g. class 3 services to exempt schemes) must also complete this return.	Every calendar quarter, due within 15 business days after the quarter end.
Class 4 and 5 licenceholders (TCSPs)	Annual statistical return – TCSPs. TCSP firms should use this template and guidance to complete their return.	Annually for the calendar year. Due within 4 months (30 April).
Class 8(1), 8(2)(b) and 8(3) only licenceholders	Annual statistical information – bureau de change / agency / cheque cashing. These firms should use this template to provide annual statistical information.	Annually as at the licenceholder’s annual reporting date. Due within 4 months.
All licenceholders (except those specified)	AML/CFT statistical information. All licenceholders, except representative offices of foreign banks (class 1(3) regulated activity), professional officers, and those firms that only conduct class 8(1) (bureau de change) and / or class 8(2)(b) (payment services as agent) regulated activity, are required to provide AML/CFT statistical information on annual basis, using the template below. AML/CFT Statistical Return Guidance for the Annual AML/CFT Statistical Return	Annually for the calendar year. Due within 6 months (30 June).

Rule 8.23 - Clients’ Assets Report

The Clients' Assets Report (PDF / Word) applies to Financial Services Act 2008 licenceholder and applies for financial years ending on or after 1 January 2017. In 2017, all licenceholders controlling clients’ assets will need to complete the Clients’ Assets Report, arrange for it to be reviewed by their auditors and submit it to the Authority within 6 months of the licenceholder’s financial year end in accordance with Rule 5.18 of the Financial Services Rule Book 2016. Subsequent years will require an Auditor Review in accordance with the Authority’s Risk-Based Approach to Client Assets Reporting. The Authority will communicate initial frequencies with relevant licenceholders. Thereafter, any changes will be advised to licenceholders as required.

The Authority has prepared some additional guidance (FAQ’s) for licenceholders here.

The Authority has issued thematic feedback on the first round of CAR submissions, which is available here.

Rule 8.57 – Professional Indemnity Insurance

A Professional Indemnity Insurance Confirmation Form (Word / PDF) must be completed by all Class 2, Class 3, Class 4, Class 5, Class 8(2)(a) and Class 8(4) licenceholders and their insurers or insurance brokers for each policy renewal.

In the event of a licence surrender, the Authority may require a licenceholder to hold run-off professional indemnity insurance in respect of claims arising from past acts or omissions. In such cases, a Professional Indemnity Insurance Run-off Confirmation (Word / PDF) should be completed.

Rule 8.60 - Pricing Errors

Class 3 licenceholders notify the Authority of pricing errors in collective investment schemes within 15 business days after the end of each calendar quarter, using the online reporting portal, Where this is not available, a CIS error reporting form should be completed.

Notification and consent requirements

As well as structured periodic returns, licenceholders are required to inform the Authority of various events, either on a notification basis, or requiring prior consent before an action can proceed. The attached Rule Book consent and notification summary table, summarises the requirements.

Policies and registers

The attached Rule Book obligations to maintain policies and Rule Book obligations to keep registers summarise the requirements.

The Authority has prepared templates which licenceholders may use if they wish. These are not statutory documents and their use is not obligatory.

Money Laundering Reporting Officers can find templates for a register of disclosures and a register of enquiries from the authorities in the Anti Money Laundering Handbook at Appendix J, Appendix K and Appendix L.