Aug 2

Written by: News Editor
8/2/2010 6:14 AM 

The Committee of European Securities Regulators is debating whether to require all 8,000 publicly traded European companies to use the eXtensible Business Reporting Language as part of a broader push to improve reporting transparency.

Reuters reports that the CESR will conduct both a feasibility study and a cost-benefit analysis of an XBRL mandate, which would enable European investors, regulators and media members to search and analyze public-company data quickly and easily.

Also coming under scrutiny in Europe is the exchange-traded fund market, which is shadowy and exists largely off the record. One proposal, the Financial Times says, would require Europe's ETF markets to keep records of all trading activity; that move would take Europe in line with the U.S., which requires reporting of all ETF trades.

"The changes put forward by CESR," Deutsche Bank ETF strategist Christos Costandinides said to the Times, "are welcome as they add transparency to the market."

The committee is in no rush to decide whether to require the use of XBRL, Reuters notes: The results of its analysis will be published in a paper due sometime next year. Even if an XBRL mandate were implemented, it would be rolled out over a five-year period.