ESMA Conference 2026 “A New Era for EU Captial Markets”

Why It Matters

Greater integration and EU‑level supervision are presented as essential to lower financing costs, bolster market resilience, and scale capital markets to meet strategic priorities like the green and digital transitions. If successful, reforms could make EU markets more competitive globally and more effective at channelling investment across borders.

Summary

ESMA marked its 15th anniversary at a conference framing EU capital markets as entering a “new era,” pressing for deeper market integration, stronger EU-level supervision, and expanded retail participation to finance the green and digital transitions amid global competition and geopolitical uncertainty. Speakers traced ESMA’s evolution from building the single rulebook after the financial crisis to focusing on supervisory convergence and direct oversight of cross‑border entities. Despite progress on rules and supervision, pan‑European fragmentation persists, prompting renewed policy drives — including the Market Integration and Supervision package and the Savings and Investment Union — to boost liquidity, reduce costs and improve cross‑border functioning. Panels will debate practical public and private steps to integrate markets, enhance supervisory consistency, and broaden retail access and trust.

Original Description

Marking ESMA’s 15-year anniversary, the conference will bring together senior policymakers, regulators, leaders of major market infrastructures and financial institutions, as well as investor representatives.

Discussions will focus on how to deepen market integration, strengthen supervision and improve the investor journey in support of the Savings and Investments Union (SIU).