Implementing XBRL in Georgia: a case study
CoreFiling has published an interesting case study giving us a look into XBRL adoption in a new country, with a data modernisation project run by the National Bank of Georgia. This sought to harmonise with European best practice in banking regulation, and to replace complex and challenging data processing with a more efficient XBRL-based solution. CoreFiling provided an XBRL Information System, covering three main challenges: “taxonomy management to define the data to be reported, including the transition to IFRS [International Financial Reporting Standards]; a data collection portal to run the collection programme; and data processing to validate incoming data and process it ready for analysis.”
The Bank decided to use the European Banking Authority’s CRD IV taxonomy – as used in the EU’s regulatory framework for reporting under the Capital Requirements Directive – as the basis for their regulatory data model and new taxonomy. “The solution retains features that supervisors liked in the existing process. For example, the ability to draw out forms in an Excel sheet,” explains the post. The collection portal accepts data in XBRL or Excel formats, in the latter case transforming it to XBRL upon submission, making it easier for financial institutions to start using the portal while they create new workflows to generate XBRL directly. The portal then carries out automated validation before the data is processed for downstream analytical use.
The new system went live in March 2021. “The transition was eased by ensuring that changes to business stakeholders were minimised while also completely transforming the management of the data,” says CoreFiling. Thanks to the breadth of the project, “each stakeholder now benefits from joined-up software and a clearly defined process that helps them manage and control their part of the data collection programme.”
The new solution has brought about improvements in data quality, through immediate validation of incoming data and direct feedback to financial institutions, enabling administrators to find and fix data issues without necessarily involving supervisors. Other benefits include improved data management, better communication between the Bank and reporting institutions, and easier access to useful information for filers. Mr Beradze, Data Analyst at the National Bank of Georgia, says that the solution will allow the Bank “to better leverage information, and gain greater insight, important to fulfilling its mandate as the supervisor of country’s financial sector.”
In final thoughts, CoreFiling reflects that “the project was initiated and run as an IT project to fix localised issues related to regulatory reporting. This focused viewpoint helped get the project off the ground and fix the critical business issues identified.” With this successful XBRL-based data collection solution under its belt – the first in the Caucasus and Central Asia region – “the Bank wants to look forward to XBRL being part of a broader data strategy to join up the data and portal needs for different business areas.”
Read more here.
We are always delighted to see case studies of XBRL in action, with the unique insights and lessons learnt they can offer. If you would like to collaborate on sharing an experience of implementation or analysis, do get in touch.
