A threesixty guide to submitting directory persons data

threesixty

A threesixty guide to

Submitting directory persons data

June 2021

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A threesixty guide to submitting directory persons data

This guide is to assist those adding staff members holding an SM&CR certification function (directory persons) to the Financial Services (FS) Register. It explains how to submit a directory persons data via the FCA notification form, and via file upload, and how to amend an existing directory persons information. On an ongoing basis you will need to include submitting the Directory persons report as part of your processes for notifying the FCA of relevant staff changes. Having read this guide, if you continue to experience issues please contact our compliance team on 03707 360 360 or email your queries to compliance@threesixtyservices.co.uk

Contents

Introduction Getting started Choosing the update method Adding directory persons via the notification form Adding directory persons via file upload Your obligations

4 6 9 11

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3

Introduction

Following the implementation of The Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SM&CR) on 9 December 2019, solo-regulated firms are now required to upload information with regards to their investment advisers, mortgage advisers and other certified staff to the FS Register. Firms need to ensure that they submit this data by 9 December 2020*, so that consumers and professionals can check the details of all certified individuals working in financial services. The Directory for staff in solo-regulated firms will go live in early December 2020. Advice firms can submit their data between now and 9 December 2020*. Note * The FCA has extended the deadline to upload your directory persons data to 31 March 2021. However, despite this, we encourage all clients to submit the relevant information as soon as possible. We have previously recommend that firms upload data by the original deadline of 9 December 2020. Firms that have done this will see their uploaded data on the Directory through the FCA register from 14 December 2020. Details of any new relevant appointments during the transitional period, for example, between 9 December 2019 and 31 March 2021, will also need to be submitted no later than 31 March 2021.

4

Introduction

Directory persons Those who will appear in the FS Register Directory (‘Directory Persons’) are: • Any staff holding an SM&CR certification function • Any directors, or non-executive directors (NEDs) of a firm - regardless of whether they hold a senior management function (SMF) or a certification function • Any sole traders, appointed representatives (ARs), or those working for ARs who are undertaking business with clients, and require a relevant qualification to do so • Any person dealing with clients, including advising and arranging investments, acting as an investment manager and all functions connected with this. • Anyone who supervises or manages a Certification Function (directly or indirectly) but is not a senior manager. Note If a Senior Manager performs a Certification Function and it isn’t related to their senior management function, they will also need to be certified. For example, a Director who also provides investment advice will need to be certified to undertake the investment advice. The two roles involve different competencies and requirements. Although AR firms aren’t included within the SM&CR regime, some roles within AR firms will be included on The Directory. Relevant roles for AR firms on the Directory will be investment advisers and mortgage advisers.

Note All screenshots provided in this guide are for illustration purposes only. Actual content and design may differ on Connect.

5

Getting started

Before you start To add an individual (a Directory Person) to the FS Register you will need the following information:

• The individual’s full name, commonly used name’ if known and date of birth

• Their individual reference number (IRN), if they have one

• A list of all relevant roles they hold

• The start and end dates (if applicable) of each role

• What business the individual is qualified to undertake (if requiring qualification), for example whether they are an investment adviser or pension transfer specialist

• The individuals workplace location - The postcode(s) where the individual is based (office address)

• The individual’s passport, nationality and national insurance (NI) number

• Whether the individual is the designated person nominated by the firm for IMD (insurance) responsibility or MCD (mortgage) responsibility.

Most of the above information you, or your HR team, should already have to hand.

6

Getting started

Beginning your application Log into Connect (a Connect account linked to your firm is required to complete a submission). Select: Start an application > Directory persons > Start application Select the section ‘Directory Persons’. Select Start application (1) (Figure 1 - Before you start) to begin adding this information.

1

Figure 1 - Before you start

7

Getting started

Each application is made up of four sections (see Figure 2 - Add Directory Person screen): • Applicant details (1)

• Directory person details (2) • Application involvement (3) • Declaration (4)

Click on the Start buttons (5) to begin completing each section.

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5

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Figure 2 - Add Directory Person screen

Applicant details Complete the Applicant details section (1) with the details of the person completing the submission. These should already be saved, and associated to your firms Connect account. Prior to clicking ‘save and next’ check these details are correct.

8

Choosing the update method

Firms can add the details of Directory Persons via two methods (see Figure 4 - Adding directory persons decision tree): 1. Firms can complete the online form via Connect – per each individual, by submitting the data by filling out the relevant electronic form. See pages 11 to 19 (Adding Directory Persons via the notification form), or 2. Firms with more than 10 directory persons can submit certified persons onto the directory using the bulk upload template spreadsheet. Firms can upload an Microsoft Excel file referred to as multiple entry facility. See pages 20 to 27 (Adding Directory Persons via file upload)

You will be asked to select the option that you wish to download (Figure 3 - Update methods).

Figure 3 - Update methods

9

Choosing the update method

Complete Applicant details

File upload (pages 20 to 27)

Notification form (pages 11 to 19)

Complete Directory person details

Download multiple entry facility entry file

Complete Application involvement

Complete multiple entry facility entry file

Upload multiple entry facility entry file

Complete Declaration

Submit

Figure 4 - Adding directory persons decision tree

threesixty comment When adding the details of singular, or individual directory persons, we recommend you do this via the online notification form. For multiple entries, to save time we recommend that you use the multiple entry facility.

10

Adding Directory Persons The notification form - Directory person details

To begin adding the details of individual Directory Persons, one at a time, click upon the start button (see Figure 2 - Add Directory persons screen) belonging to the Directory Persons section title. This will open the Directory Person Details screen (see Figure 5 - Directory person details - Notification form). Select ‘Notification Form’ from the Directory Person Details dropdown (6), then click ‘Save and Next’ (7).

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Figure 5- Directory person details - Notification form

You will be asked whether the directory person holds, or has previously held, an FCA Individual Reference Number (see Figure 6 - Provide details of the directory person). Select either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Where possible enter the member of staffs Individual Reference Number (IRN) , along with their date of birth and either their national insurance (NI), or passport number.

Figure 6 - Provide details of the directory person

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Adding Directory Persons The notification form - Directory person details

Upon submission of the IRN, the systemwill be able to locate the member of staff, and automatically populate any known information on the form. If the member of staff doesn’t have an IRN, you’ll need to manually enter their details into the notification form (see Figure 7 - Find individual). If you are using their NI number (7) as their unique identifier, you won’t be required to complete the nationality field. Once all information has been entered, click ‘Find’.

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Figure 7 - Find individual

Note We have been advised - although you don’t need a passport number if you have an NI number, on occasion the systemmay still require both before you can proceed. Also, make sure the correct format is used. The date of birth should be entered using the calendar option on the right of the screen (8).

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Adding Directory Persons The notification form - Application involvement

To begin adding the details of application involvement, click upon the start button (see Figure 2 - Add Directory persons screen) belonging to the Application involvement section title. You will be asked to confirm the name of the firm that the directory person needs to be associated. Next, select the directory persons applicable roles (Figure 8 - Customer engagement methods). For example, the certification for a retail investment adviser should include the functions ‘functions requiring a qualification’ and ‘client dealing’ function. The roles (with) Customer Engagement Method and activities requiring qualification are: • [FCA CF] (5) Functions requiring qualifications • Sole trader dealing with clients for which they require qualification • Appointed representative dealing with clients for which they require qualification

The roles (without) Customer Engagement Method are: • [FCA CF] (1) CASS oversight function • [FCA CF] (2) Benchmark submission and administration • [FCA CF] (3) Proprietary trader • [FCA CF] (4) Significant management • [FCA CF] (6) Manager of certification employee • [FCA CF] (7) Material risk taker • [FCA CF] (8) Client dealing • [FCA CF] (9) Algorithmic trading

• [PRA CF] Material risk taker • [PRA CF] Key function holder • [PRA CF] Managing a material risk taker • Director of firmwho is not a certification employee or a SMF manager

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Adding Directory Persons The notification form - Application involvement

Next to each role, there is a date selection field (9) Enter the date that the employee started in that role here. For existing employees this date will always be 9 December 2019 or the date the individual started if after 9 December 2019. In addition, the three boxes next to this are used to confirm how clients can engage with the member of staff, for example face-to-face, telephone or online (10). Select all that apply. Once complete, click ‘Finish’ (11) you will then be taken to the next section - Directory person activities.

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Figure 8 - Customer engagement methods

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Adding Directory Persons The notification form - Application involvement

A full list of activities is listed on page 16 (see Figure 9 - Activities). This is needed where the individual’s activities require an appropriate qualification. For example: • Giving personal recommendations on retail investment products • Pension transferspecialist • Managing investments • Advising or arranging (bringing about) regulated mortgage contracts For most advisers, you will need to add activities 4 and 6. Of course, this will depend on the exact activities that the adviser is undertaking - a number of further activities may be appropriate. Examples below: Some of the main activities for an individual requiring a qualification include: • For an adviser who is advising on retail investment products they would need: 4 • For an adviser who is advising on friendly society tax-exempt policies they would need: 6 • For an adviser advising on P2P they would need: 9a • For an adviser who is advising on securities they would need: 2 • For an adviser who is advising on and dealing in securities they would need: 12 • For an adviser who is advising on derivatives they would need: 3 • For an adviser who is advising on and dealing in derivatives they would: 13 • For an adviser who is advising on long term care they would need: 7 • For a pension transfer specialist they would need: 11 • For an adviser advising on mortgages they would need: 20 • For an adviser advising on equity release they would need: 21 threesixty comment Where you are uncertain as to which activities should be held for the role, you can cross-reference the activities against the qualification requirements in the appropriate qualification tables in the FCA handbook. www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/TC/App/4/?view=chapter

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Adding Directory Persons The notification form - Application involvement

2. Giving personal recommendations on securities which are not stakeholder pension schemes or personal pension schemes or broker funds 3. Giving personal recommendations on derivatives 4. Giving personal recommendations on retail investment products which are not broker funds 6. Giving personal recommendations on Friendly Society tax-exempt policies (other than Holloway sickness policies where the Holloway policy special application conditions are met) 7. Giving personal recommendations on long-term care insurance contracts 8. Giving personal recommendations on investments in the course of corporate finance business 9. Advising on syndicate participation at Lloyd’s 9A. Advising on P2P agreements 10. Broker fund adviser 11. Pension transfer specialist 12. Giving personal recommendations on and dealing in securities which are not stakeholder pension schemes or personal pension schemes or broker funds 13. Giving personal recommendations on and dealing with derivatives 14. Managing investments 15. Operating a collective investment scheme or undertaking the activities of a trustee or depositary of a collective investment scheme 16. Safeguarding and administering investments or holding client money 17. Administrative functions in relation to managing investments 18. Administrative functions in relation to effecting or carrying out contracts of insurance which are life policies 19. Administrative functions in relation to the operation of stakeholder pension schemes 20. Advising or arranging (bringing out) regulated mortgage contracts for a non-business purpose 21. Advising or arranging (bringing out) equity release transactions 21A. Designing scripted questions for execution-only sales of regulated mortgage contracts for a non-business purpose 22. Designing scripted questions for execution-only sales of equity release transactions 23. Overseeing execution-only sales on a day-to-day basis in relation to equity release transactions

Figure 9 - Activities

16

Adding Directory Persons The notification form - Application involvement

The penultimate step relates to the location of the member of staff - so that members of the public can find advisers near to them, the firm need to confirm the postcode(s) where the directory person works, and the possible methods of engagement: • Customer engagement methods * The directory will show the ways in which the individual deals with clients. Options available are online, telephone and face to face. • Workplace location * The Directory will show the town /city of an individual’s workplace. Individuals who don’t offer face-to-face meetings, or where disclosing location could put the individual at risk, don’t have to give their location or can supply the post code of the firm’s head office instead. The final area in this section relates to the member of staff’s professional accreditation with third party bodies - such the Chartered Insurance Institute or the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (see Figure 10 - Accreditation): • Membership of accredited bodies * Information will show which accredited bodies the individual is a member of (for example CII, CFA and CISI)

Note *This information is only needed for individuals in client facing roles requiring an appropriate qualification.

The FS Register will signpost to users where they can obtain additional information, such as SPS details, qualification levels etc. directly from the relevant accredited body (where the relevant body has decided to make this information public).

Figure 10 - Accreditation

17

Adding Directory Persons The notification form - Application involvement

When you have completed this, the ‘Directory Person Details’ and ‘Application Involvement’ sections will appear as complete. Next, click on the Start button for ‘Declaration’. You will be taken to the next screen which will allow you prior to submission, to be able to carry out a full review of what you previously inputted (see Figure 11 - Review of information).Read and complete the declaration page. Then click on ‘Save and Next.

Note It is not necessary to print, sign and retain your application.

You can view your application on Connect. However, please ensure that you check the box to continue.

Figure 11 - Review of information

18

Adding Directory Persons The notification form - Declaration

Declaration Finally, the submitter needs to review all information to confirm it’s accurate. Once completed, tick the Review and confirmation box (12) and then click submit (see Figure 12 - Declaration).

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Figure 12 - Declaration

If you have any issues please contact the Compliance team on 03707 360360 or email your queries to compliance@threesixtyservices.co.uk to ensure the most efficient response.

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Adding Directory Persons File upload

Multiple persons - File upload Firms with more than 10 directory persons can submit certified persons onto the directory using the bulk upload template spreadsheet. The Multiple person file upload template allows you to submit multiple directory person records in a single application. You can use the multiple add template to: • Add new directory persons • Add new roles • Add new activities • Add new accreditations • Add new workplace locations • Add new customer engagement methods Each row of the template (see Figures 15 to 18) represents a single directory person’s entry (individual) for a single legal entity. If an individual works for multiple legal entities, please submit a separate application for each entity. To add multiple persons to the FS Register via the multiple entry facility spreadsheet - a pro-forma template with the required information to entered, created in Microsoft Excel. The template Excel file can be downloaded direct from Connect - When you select ‘File Upload’, you can download the template via a link. Otherwise you can find this within FCA guidance ‘Directory of certified and assessed persons’ here: https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/ directory-persons Please see Adding or amending your certified and assessed persons data. The first worksheet within the spreadsheet contains several helpful hints to help you along your way, telling you what needs to be added and where. Dropdown input boxes are also included within the other worksheet to save you time and make the process more straightforward. The number of columns to be completed, is dependent on the individual’s role.

threesixty comment The FCA are constantly updating this document so please ensure that you download the most recent version.

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Adding Directory Persons File upload

Complete and confirm the ‘Applicant details’ (1) see page 8. To add the details of multiple persons via the upload facility, choose ‘File upload’ (13) from the Directory Person Details screen (see Figure 14 - Directory person details - File upload).

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Figure 14 - Directory person details - File upload

Note When using the multiple persons file template ensure that you:

• Complete all of the required fields on the template • Be aware of the required format for each field • Be aware of the rules relating to roles, activities, customer engagement methods and workplace location.

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Adding Directory Persons File upload

Note When completing the template ... • The header cell of each column contains help text (if needed) • Do not add formatting to the spreadsheet (for example cell borders) as this may corrupt the file when it is saved to .csv Preparation • Obtain the latest version of the Excel spreadsheet from here https://www.fca.org.uk/ publication/forms/directory-persons-multiple-submissions-template.xlsx • Do not remove or edit the top 3 rows and do not add any formatting to the spreadsheet (e.g. add cell borders) • Some cells contain basic validations e.g. UK date format - do not change these validations or your submission is likely to fail • Do not use commas anywhere in the template as this will cause your submission to be rejected • Do no leave any blank rows in the information you complete e.g. do not populate row 10 and 12 but leave 11 blank, or any data after row 10 will not be processed • If you do not have certain information (such as passport number), leave the cell blank - do not enter ‘N/A’ in cells as this will result in that record being rejected • Save the final version of the spreadsheet in Excel as a backup if you need to refer to again later

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Adding Directory Persons File upload

Submission Save the Excel spreadsheet as a CSV UTF-8 file type[Comma Delimited] .csv file type and call it “FCA_Directory_Persons_Multiple_Add” – watch the underscores in the name as you cannot have any spaces (this is the final version that you will upload) Do not save it as a .csv until you are ready to submit, as doing so will remove the template formatting. When saving the file, ensure you are on the form tab that contains the information you have populated, as the .csv format removes all other tabs. The examples below show a full list of entries – Each line represents the directory person concerned. The ‘Roles’ and ‘Activities’ of each directory person may be over several lines.

Figure 15 - Multiple submissions template (Example 1)

On this basis the certification for a retail investment adviser should include the functions ‘functions requiring a qualification’ and ‘client dealing’ function.

Figure 16 - Multiple submissions template (Example 2)

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Adding Directory Persons File upload

On the excel spreadsheet version this would be: [FCA CF] (5) Functions requiring qualifications and [FCA CF] (8) Client dealing.

Figure 17 - Multiple submissions template (Extract 3)

Activities Activities must be referenced where the individual’s activities require an appropriate qualification. For example: • Giving personal recommendations on retail investment products • Pension transfer specialist • Managing investments • Advising or arranging (bringing about) regulated mortgage contracts Most advisers will need activities 4 and 6. However, it depends on the exact activities that the adviser is undertaking. They may have a number of further activities. Some of the main activities for an individual requiring a qualification are shown below: • For an adviser who is advising on retail investment products they would need: 4 • For an adviser who is advising on friendly society tax-exempt policies they would need: 6 • For an adviser advising on P2P they would need: 9a • For an adviser who is advising on securities they would need: 2 • For an adviser who is advising on and dealing in securities they would need: 12 • For an adviser who is advising on derivatives they would need: 3 • For an adviser who is advising on and dealing in derivatives they would: 13 • For an adviser who is advising on long term care they would need: 7 • For a pension transfer specialist they would need: 11 • For an adviser advising on mortgages they would need: 20 • For an adviser advising on equity release they would need: 21

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Adding Directory Persons File upload

Where you are uncertain as to which activities apply to the role, you can cross-reference the activities against the qualification requirements in the appropriate qualification tables in the FCA handbook, please refer to page 16 above for the full list of Activities.

Figure 18 - Multiple submissions template (Example 4)

The penultimate step relates to the location of the member of staff. For this section, the firm need to confirm the postcode(s) where the member of staff works. This is so that members of the public can find advisers near to them. • Customer engagement methods* The FS Register will show the ways in which the individual deals with clients. Options available are online, telephone and face to face. • Workplace location* The FS Register will show the town /city of an individual’s workplace. Individuals who don’t offer face-to-face meetings, or where disclosing location could put the individual at risk, don’t have to give their location or can supply the post code of the firm’s head office instead. The final area in this section relates to the member of staff’s professional accreditation with third party bodies such the Chartered Insurance Institute or the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment. • Membership of accredited bodies* The FS Register will show which accredited bodies the individual is a member of (for example CII, CFA and CISI)

Note *This information is only needed for individuals in client facing roles requiring an appropriate qualification.

25

Adding Directory Persons File upload

Users will be able to obtain additional information such as SPS details, qualification levels etc. directly from the relevant accredited body (where the relevant body has decided to make this information public).

Note When using the multiple persons file template ensure that you:

Once your file is completed. Save it and upload your file(s) via the upload facility (14) (see Figure 14 Directory person details - File upload - page 21). Then click ‘Save and Next’. When you have completed this, the ‘Directory Person Details’ and ‘Application Involvement’ sections will appear as complete. Next, click on the Start button for ‘Declaration’. Read and complete the declaration page. Then click on ‘Save and Next (15). • Make sure you use the same cell validations (for example, using a UK date format). If you use another format this may cause the submission to fail • The filename used cannot have any spaces in it, so do not leave any blank rows in the file • The file should initially be saved in an excel format and all empty columns and rows removed • The file should then be saved in a .csv format for uploading • The maximum file size is 5MB

Note It is not necessary to print, sign and retain your application.

You can view your application on Connect. However, please ensure that you check the box to continue.

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Adding Directory Persons File upload

Note When the FCA have been unable to process all of the individuals in the submission, due to a generic issue such as an incorrect file format, incorrect template or the template being modified, the firmwill receive a single piece of feedback on the whole submission. For example, ‘Columns missing or file is corrupted. Please do not modify the csv file once converted from xlsx’. FCA feedback to firms using file upload for bulk submissions Firms will receive only one feedback email. This email asks the firm to log into Connect and to check their feedback file. Firms will receive this email and a feedback file in Connect regardless of whether there are any errors in their submission. The feedback file lists all the individuals submitted as part of the bulk notification (including those with errors), allowing firms to centralise the data from their notification and easily compare which individuals have been processed successfully and which contained errors and must be resubmitted. The feedback file contains the following information: • A list of all the individuals submitted as part of the bulk notification, not only those with errors • Where it has not been possible to process the submission of an individual for appearance on the directory an error message explaining the problemwill appear in the relevant row • The feedback file will have an ‘IRN Status’ column that will indicate whether it is a new individual (previously unknown to FCA) with the value ‘New Individual’ populated, or it is an existing individual with the value ‘Existing Individual’ populated

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Your obligations

Keeping the information up to date Firms will have an obligation to keep the Directory information on their staff up to date on an ongoing basis. Any changes must be notified (at the latest) within seven business days of the change occurring. Any new appointments during the transitional period will also need to be notified no later than 9 December 2020*. If someone leaves or there is a change to an individual’s details. Changes can be made via connect. For example: • A certified employee ceasing to perform a certification function. • The firm becoming aware of any other change relating to information previously reported about a certification employee (for example, a change of name). • If a relevant staff member leaves during the transitional period, (9 December 2019 and 31 March 2021), you still need to record details of this person, irrespective of the fact that they will no longer be at your firmwhen the transitional period expires. Therefore in this instance, you will need to submit their data for the Directory, then update this record with the date of departure.

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Your obligations

Dealing with data errors Although the systemwill have some in built data validation, the information that will appear on The Directory will reflect the information submitted, so it’s important that all data supplied is accurate. You can amend details via Connect and Directory Persons if you notice that any information is incorrect, requires amendment or someone has left your organisation. You will see from the screen print below that you choose the option ‘Amend and/or End Date Directory Person(s)’. This is completed using the Notification method rather than file upload.

Figure 19 - Amend and/or End Date Directory Person(s)

A £250 administration fee will be charged in the following circumstances:

• Where the data submitted is late or inaccurate

• Where a firm has failed to confirm that their information remains accurate and up to date (this must be done at least annually) Directory users will be able to report data errors to the FCA and firms have an obligation to rectify the information as soon as possible after being notified of an error. These instances will also be subject to the £250 fee. Where a firm promptly self-identifies and corrects their own data, the £250 fee won’t apply. The FCA will take further disciplinary action where firms are found to be repeatedly breaching the Directory reporting requirements. 29

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