EU finance ministers agree to give ESMA direct supervision of large market operators

A deal with a narrower reach

EU finance ministers reached a political agreement on Friday, 9 October, at a meeting in Luxembourg on a package that gives the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), based in Paris, more powers and resources. Under the Irish presidency of the Council, the deal extends ESMA's direct supervision to large trading platforms, clearing houses, securities custodians and some crypto-asset service providers, while national authorities such as BaFin in Germany and the AMF in France keep their roles for everyone else. All member states backed the compromise except Belgium, which abstained. The legal text still has to be finalised, approved at a later Council meeting and negotiated with the European Parliament.

Irish finance minister Simon Harris, speaking for the Council presidency, acknowledged the concessions that made the agreement possible.

If we had all wanted to get our own way, we would not have managed it. We had to give ground to be where we are today.

What was cut from the Commission's plan

The Commission presented the reform in late 2025 and proposed moving supervision of a wider group of operators to ESMA. According to information circulating in Luxembourg, the number of trading platforms, including exchanges and other organised markets, that would pass under direct ESMA supervision falls from 12 to 8. Selection will rest on market share and cross-border activity, and the Commission must review the thresholds after two years. Brussels had proposed moving supervision of all crypto-service providers to ESMA, but the Council decided to keep it only for those considered the most important. Euronext, which operates markets in Paris and Milan, is expected to come under direct ESMA supervision because it works through several national markets. Deutsche Börse is expected to stay out, according to diplomats.

Germany, Luxembourg and Ireland

Germany pushed for an exemption for the operator of the Frankfurt exchange, arguing that unlike Euronext it has no cross-border reach and therefore need not fall under ESMA supervision. Critics accuse Berlin of weakening the reform and reintroducing fragmentation within the eurozone. Germany and France backed the proposal from the outset, while smaller countries, notably Luxembourg and Ireland, feared losing control because finance weighs heavily in their economies. Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency, nonetheless pushed hard for a deal over recent months. German finance minister Lars Klingbeil called the outcome an important and significant step and the centrepiece of the capital markets union. The Commission describes the aim as putting thousands of billions of euros in savings, now sitting in bank accounts, to work for companies.

Commission criticism

The Commission criticised the final text, and Commissioner for financial services Maria Luís Albuquerque voiced the objection during the Ecofin debate.

We deeply regret that the compromise now on the table does not have a sufficient level of ambition in terms of the objectives of market integration and supervision.

Albuquerque named governance and the degree of centralisation of supervision as the two areas where the compromise departs from the Commission's ambitions. The Commission said the exceptions send the wrong signal, since some entities with activities similar to those under ESMA control will remain under national supervision.

Reactions from Rome

Italian economy minister Giancarlo Giorgetti welcomed the outcome as a sign of the bloc's ability to compromise.

I believe that reaching a compromise among 27 countries is a great political success.

Giorgetti said the package strengthens market integration and gives ESMA wider responsibilities and a governance structure better suited to exercising them. ESMA was established on 1 January 2011 and is headquartered in Paris.