New CNCC playbook for auditors' annual client-asset report to the AMF

The Compagnie nationale des commissaires aux comptes has published a September 2026 avis technique on the statutory auditors' report required by article 312-7 of the règlement général de l'AMFCnccCncc on the protection of clients' holdings in financial instruments. The notice updates the CNCC's guidance of 1 December 2008, which implemented the former article 313-17, I of the RGAMF, now renumbered as article 312-7.

The report covers entreprises d'investissement and credit institutions licensed for the investment services in article L. 321-1Cncc, not portfolio management companiesCncc; in practice only firms licensed for tenue de compte-conservation of client instruments owe itCncc. Custody through branches in another EU Member State belongs inside the descriptive document's scope. Where a custodian has mandated a single French delegate with the whole custody operation, the AMF's position DOC-2010-24 of 17 December 2020 lets the mandating firm refer to the delegate's auditor's report instead of sending its own, by writing to the AMF through the same channel as auditor reports, electronically in the GECO extranet.

Article 312-7 requires each firm to ensure that its commissaire aux comptes reports to the AMF at least once a year on the adequacy of the arrangements under 7° of II of article L. 533-10 — safeguarding clients' property rights and preventing own-account use without express consent — and under 9° of II, which bars title-transfer collateral arrangements with non-professional clients, and under the corresponding RGAMF sectionCncc. Since the engagement is imposed by regulation, it is a statutory mission under III of article L. 821-2 of the code de commerce, not a service engagement: the auditor cannot decline it, and where the firm has appointed several auditors each signs. It is neither an audit, nor a limited review, nor an agreed-upon-procedures engagement.

The report is conditional on a descriptive document prepared under the firm's management responsibility and annexed to itCncc. The auditor verifies that it describes all procedures capable of supporting an adequacy conclusion and matches the controls as designed and implemented, using walkthrough tests, without opining on operating effectiveness. The conclusion is expressed negatively — no observations, observations, or inability to conclude — and observations lead the auditor to consider whether they amount to an irregularity reportable to the AMF under II of article L. 621-22. The report is issued once a year to the firm's legal representative, who forwards it to the AMF; a letter of affirmation is recommended.

The work programme spans the protective framework: segregated holdings with accurate records usable as an audit trail, regular reconciliations and separately labelled accounts at third parties; selection and periodic review of third-party custodians, with non-EEA custodians only where the instrument or service requires it or a professional client has requested it in writing; client-instrument use, including securities financing transactions, only with prior express consent on precise terms; the ban on collateral arrangements letting a third party dispose of client instruments to recover unrelated claims, save where third-country law requires them and then with disclosure and identification in contracts and accounts; an information pack rapidly accessible to the AMF, insolvency office-holders and the resolution college; prevention of unauthorised use including settlement-shortfall procedures; collateral for lent client securities kept balanced against lent value; no prohibited contracts with non-professionals and a documented review with risk warnings for title-transfer collateral with professionals and eligible counterparties; and verification that a single responsible officer for custody safeguarding has been appointed, as article 312-19 of the RGAMF requires.

Legal basis: article 312-7 and articles 312-6 to 312-19 of the règlement général de l'AMF, and 7° and 9° of II of article L. 533-10 of the code monétaire et financier.