Why governance is the sticking point
Verena Ross, a German economist wrapping up her term leading the EU's securities regulator, said of the SEC comparison, "I don't see ESMA in my lifetime certainly getting to that position." Her focus, instead, is on how ESMA is governed.
She told Bloomberg that rules and market structures can change, but supervision only works if decision making is clear and quick. As she put it, what matters is "who takes decisions, are responsibilities clear, can you actually have efficient and effective supervision." If the EU shifts more oversight to the European level, "one of the benefits should be that you can actually move faster and have clear common EU outcomes," she said.
What the MISP would change and where talks stand
Brussels' Markets Integration and Supervision Package would centralize supervision and enforcement at Paris-based ESMA and add a new executive board to operate the authority in parallel with the current college of national supervisors. The aim is faster, more consistent calls across all 27 member states.
EU ministers backed a stance that further limits the executive board's remit, thereby preserving more influence for domestic supervisors. That compromise still has to be aligned with the European Parliament and the European Commission before it can be sealed. Ross cautioned that too many constraints could undercut the package's intended benefits.
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Flashpoints: crypto and Deutsche Boerse
Two thorny files show how hard the balance will be. Early proposals had ESMA directly supervising all crypto firms, but a draft deal among governments would confine that to significant players after a backlash led by Malta. Ross said, "as long as there are some of the more important cross-border players that are supervised at the EU level, I think we can make that work."
She also told Bloomberg TV that central oversight should cover all major cross-border market infrastructure and that a "level playing field" ought to exist for firms. The council agreement narrowed MISP's scope, allowing Deutsche Boerse to sidestep ESMA oversight because the bulk of its activity is domestic. "This clearly is a compromise in the council," Ross said.
Timeline, legacy, and why investors should care
Ross wants Parliament to set its stance soon so trilogue talks among Parliament, the Council and the Commission start in December or early next year. "I think what is important is that we haven't yet seen what the parliament will come up with, and then ultimately through trilogues we will see where this ends," she said. "So I'm not going to now make any judgment on where we are because it's not the end state."
She argues that deeper integration between trading, clearing and settlement across Europe matters most, since today "any cross-border trading and investing is incredibly difficult and costly." With just four days remaining in her mandate, the 58-year-old Ross looks back on 15 years at ESMA - a decade of that as an executive director - and says she is ready to pass the baton. ESMA, she added, is in a strong position to take up new responsibilities and implement them. The bottom line: if governance delivers real EU-level authority and the cross-border pipes get smoother, execution risk falls and costs could follow, which feeds directly into liquidity and pricing in your portfolio.
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