Upcoming Changes in the Notification Process of Net Short Positions to the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority

Authors: Linda Launonen and Jari Tukiainen

The Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (the “FIN-FSA”) is currently in the process of introducing a new electronic services platform for reporting net short positions under Regulation (EU) 236/2012 on Short Selling and Certain Aspects of Credit Default Swaps.

The electronic services platform is intended to become operational at the beginning of 2023. However, as of today, the exact date for this is yet to be set. It is our understanding that the FIN-FSA will confirm the date on which the platform becomes operational three weeks in advance.

In order to obtain access to the FIN-FSA’s electronic services platform and to report net short positions through the platform, non-Finnish companies (as position holders) must first register with the mandate service of the Finnish Digital and Population Data Services Agency provided by Finnish officials through the Suomi.fi e-Authorizations portal. A mandate is an electronic power of attorney, the details of which are entered in the authorisation register maintained by Finnish officials.

To be able to access the mandate service, non-Finnish citizens without a Finnish personal identity code must first obtain a foreigner’s user identifier and install the Finnish Authenticator app in accordance with the instructions of the Finnish Authenticator Identification Service. After this, non-Finnish companies must apply for the right to grant a mandate for the person acting as their representative (an employee) in the mandate service. When the application has been successfully processed by the Finnish officials, the representative may grant mandates for transactions, which also cover the reporting of net short positions, to the person or persons responsible for carrying out the daily reporting process in the Suomi.fi e-Authorizations portal. These persons are then able to log into and report net short positions through the FIN-FSA’s electronic services platform. If a non-Finnish company (the position holder) has outsourced the reporting of net short positions to an external service provider, a similar process is required from the external service provider as well.

It should be noted that several official notarised documents are required as part of the mandate application. Furthermore, the processing time of mandate applications can vary from one week to several weeks (the current processing time is shown at the Suomi.fi website here). Therefore, the FIN-FSA advises non-Finnish companies to start the registration process at the earliest convenience to ensure that they are prepared to report net short positions through the new platform as soon as it becomes operational. Applicants should be aware that the relevant authority may request further information and set a deadline for the submission of such information. Failure to comply will cause the application to lapse. In our experience, the authority may grant an extension for such deadline upon request.  

The FIN-FSA will, however, continue to accept reporting from non-Finnish companies by e-mail in accordance with the current notification process until the relevant company has been able to obtain access to the new platform.

More information and instructions on how to register with the mandate service are available in English at the FIN-FSA’s website here.

Instructions regarding the FIN-FSA’s electronic services platform will be published on the FIN-FSA’s website closer to the date on which the platform becomes operational.