BaFin expands XBRL use for insurance and pension fund reporting

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Editor

Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) is expanding the use of XBRL as the standard for financial reporting by insurance companies and pension funds. The mandate applies to reports covering the period from 31 December 2024 onwards, with the first submissions in XBRL required for Q1 2025. This move aims to further modernise and standardise reporting, ensuring more robust, validation processes.

BaFin has already published the relevant reporting format in the German Federal Law Gazette and is encouraging early testing. A test taxonomy and accompanying documentation are available on BaFin's website. For organisations currently submitting manually via the MVP platform, a simplified solution will be provided. Software-based reporting processes must also be updated to accommodate the XBRL format. Since October, BaFin has conducted online briefings to guide stakeholders through the changes.

This transition aligns with regulatory frameworks such as the Insurance Reporting Ordinance and Pension Fund Supervision Ordinance.

From XBRL International's perspective, this is another positive step towards quality-driven and efficient digital business reporting. By further adopting XBRL, BaFin ensures greater consistency, transparency, and automation potential in pension fund and insurance reporting-key benefits in an era of increasing complexity in financial disclosures.

For more information and to access the taxonomy, visit BaFin's website.