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FESE has primarily worked with ESMA as they are the ESA focused on financial markets issues and are comprised of the National Competent Authorities that supervise exchanges. Overall, our view of the working of ESMA is quite positive, however, given their increased workload and the impending application of new markets regulation such as MiFID II / MiFIR, we consider that this review is timely in order to ensure that ESMA can fulfil its function properly.
FESE strongly supports the ESAs objective to promote a common supervisory culture and foster supervisory convergence across the EU given its importance to establishing a level playing field and ensuring that legislation is implemented as intended by the legislator. We believe that ESMA’s work on supervisory convergence needs to be strengthened, particularly in respect of diverging supervisory practices across Member States.
At the same time, FESE wishes to underline strongly the need to recognise the importance of supervisors’ understanding of practical operation of the exchange deriving from its direct supervision as well as regulatory frameworks and business models which may have developed. Enforcing supervisory convergence should mean ensuring that legislation is implemented as intended by the legislator to establish a level playing field, while identifying and recognising any situations in which there may be more than one way to achieve these objectives.
FESE is not in favour of radical changes to the structure of European supervision in respect of our markets’ activity at this point in time. We believe that the ESAs - and ESMA in particular - already have a sufficient range of tools (which can be strengthened) to be able to deliver strengthened supervisory convergence.
FESE would strongly recommend that ESMA always considers the international dimension, such as the work of IOSCO to ensure that EU guidelines do not significantly differ from international standards. We would urge ESMA to advocate that EU wide legislation follows its own previous guidance or international guidance to avoid legal uncertainty and avoid unnecessary compliance costs.
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