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FESE believes that one of the priorities for ESMA to strengthen its role in ensuring supervisory convergence. We support a stronger role in Level 2 as well as improvements to ESMA’s role in ensuring consistent supervision. We also support an improved peer review process, as well as the extension of ESMA’s direct supervision to other entities subject to a clear framework to determine the entities. We support improvements to the ESMA governance structure with respect to the supervisory board and the management board which would have the effect of generating a greater degree of independence. More resources are needed to fulfil ESMA’s mandate in full and also to strengthen ESMA’s independence.
We support improvements to ESMA’s role in protecting investors. Among others, we support an appropriately used power to ban certain products. ESMA should also have wider standard-setting powers by being able to adopt not only guidelines and recommendations but also standards on certain topics (i.e. corporate governance, auditing, and financial reporting or takeover).
ESMA has been doing a good job in terms of involving a range of different points of view and employing a transparent decision-making process. However, there is still potential for improvement.In particular, we support: a greater outreach to retail groups, greater ESMA transparency about whom they consult in the industry and how at any level, additional steps to ensure that consultations are efficient, more realistic deadlines for consultations, a greater effort to include the points of views of investors in the industry groups set up to advise the Standing Committees, and a more transparent process for the setting up of the composition of the Standing Committees.
The ESMA Securities Markets Stakeholder Group (SMSMG) has been very useful, in particular with regard to their own-initiative work such as their report on SME Finance and the exchanges of views on market developments which allowed the SMSG to alert the ESMA Management and the Supervisory Board to key new risks, such as the discussions on self-placement, crowd funding and CFDs. To be even more helpful, this Group needs more administrative support.
