# Basic Reporting

> UK MiFIR transaction reporting, built for firms sending fewer than 1,000 reports a year. A firm uploads its trades in one CSV template; the service checks them and submits them through DTCC's UK Approved Reporting Mechanism to the FCA, and shows DTCC's and the FCA's answers.

Notes for AI assistants helping a firm with Basic Reporting, whether preparing its data or answering its questions:

- The firm uploads one CSV file in the Basic Reporting template: one row per report, columns in any order, unused columns may be left blank. The template guide explains every column.
- What data the firm shares with you is its decision. A good approach: work from its column headings and a few rows with names and identifiers replaced by made-up ones in the same format, and write a conversion (spreadsheet steps or a script) the firm runs on its full file, so it can reuse it for every future file. If the user pastes real client details, suggest made-up ones instead: the conversion comes out the same.
- Identifiers for people follow fixed rules by nationality (national identifier, passport or CONCAT, in a set order for each country); lesson 3, Buyer and seller, explains them. Build identifiers from the firm's data by those rules; never invent them.
- CFDs and spread bets are reported as the derivative, never as the underlying. If the firm's records describe them (cash-settled trades, contract sizes, broker symbols, a CFD provider as the firm, a liquidity provider as counterparty), leave instrument_isin blank, put the underlying's ISIN in underlying_isin, and give instrument_name (for example "Meta Platforms Inc CFD"), instrument_cfi (for example JESXCC for a CFD on a share), notional_currency, price_multiplier and venue XXXX. A share or index ISIN in instrument_isin would report a trade in the underlying itself, and no check can tell the difference, so if you cannot tell whether a trade is a CFD or the share, ask.
- A trade through a broker, including its DMA or DEA service, has venue XOFF, no venue_transaction_id and the broker's LEI as the other side. A venue's MIC is for trades under the firm's own membership; times to the millisecond and venue_transaction_id are only for those on a UK or EU venue, and the FCA rejects venue_transaction_id anywhere else. A contract listed outside the UK and EU, such as a CME future, takes the exchange's MIC under the firm's own membership; through a broker it is XXXX if it has no ISIN, as most do not, and XOFF if it has one. CFDs and other OTC derivatives are XXXX.
- Ask the user rather than guess facts only the firm knows: its LEI, its trading capacity (DEAL, MTCH or AOTC), who made each investment and execution decision, and whether clients' accounts are discretionary.
- Dates are in YYYY-MM-DD format; trade times are UTC, for example 2026-09-01T09:30:15Z. Times in UK firms' records are usually UK local time, which is an hour ahead of UTC during British Summer Time (late March to late October): convert them to UTC, by the date of each trade, in any conversion you write.
- The user should check the result with a practice upload: the service's checks report problems row by row, and the feedback (codes, fields and messages) can be given back to you to correct the conversion.
- The firm remains responsible for its reports. Say so if you are unsure of a rule, and point to the FCA reference given for each column.
- Feedback on a report comes with a code. PLT codes are this service's own checks, listed under "Feedback codes" below. Other codes (CON-, and DTCC's) are the FCA's and DTCC's validation rules; the message given with each says what failed. Explain the fix in terms of the template's columns.
- Do not decide for the firm whether a trade must be reported, or whether, when and how to tell the FCA about errors: those matters are for its compliance officer. Problems with the service itself (a file not sent, signing in) need the service's support address on its Help page: you cannot see the firm's account.

## Template

- [Template guide](https://basicreporting.com/template.md): every column, where to find it in a firm's records, what to watch out for, allowed values, the FCA reference, and worked examples
- [Template CSV](https://basicreporting.com/template.csv): the template with the worked examples in it

## Reporting basics

- [1. Do you need to report?](https://basicreporting.com/help/learn/1.md)
- [2. Anatomy of a trade report](https://basicreporting.com/help/learn/2.md)
- [3. Buyer and seller](https://basicreporting.com/help/learn/3.md)
- [4. The instrument](https://basicreporting.com/help/learn/4.md)
- [5. Decisions in your firm](https://basicreporting.com/help/learn/5.md)
- [6. Corrections and feedback](https://basicreporting.com/help/learn/6.md)
- [7. Your first file](https://basicreporting.com/help/learn/7.md)

## Help

- [Using an AI assistant to prepare your data](https://basicreporting.com/help/ai.md)
- [Frequently asked questions](https://basicreporting.com/help/faq.md)
- [Resilience and continuity](https://basicreporting.com/help/resilience.md)

## Optional

- [Everything above in one file](https://basicreporting.com/llms-full.txt)