EU Ministers Agree to Expand ESMA Oversight

EU finance ministers reached a political compromise in Luxembourg on October 9 to give the European Securities and Markets Authority direct supervisory powers over selected major financial market operators, a step toward closer oversight across the bloc. The agreement on the Market Integration and Supervision Package is not law and must go through further legislative negotiations and formal approval before taking effect. The proposed changes would shift some supervision now handled by national authorities to ESMA, covering selected trading venues, clearing and settlement infrastructure, and significant cross-border cryptoasset service providers. A full-time independent executive board would also be established within ESMA to oversee its operational and supervisory responsibilities. National regulators would retain important roles. The compromise is narrower than the European Commission’s original proposal, which envisaged transferring broader categories of market operators to ESMA. One estimate puts the proposed coverage at about eight trading venues and 10 to 15 of roughly 360 cryptoasset service providers.