This week the EU Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) published a draft report on the European Council's proposal to appoint a new Chairperson of ESMA, the pan-EU financial market regulator (click here).
Verena Ross, the current Chair of ESMA is due to step down from the role on 31 October 2026. Chairperson Ross has held the position since 1 November 2021 and has been responsible for representing ESMA as well as preparing the work of, and chairing, its Board of Supervisors and Management Board. The Chairperson can serve for five years and is eligible for one renewal. Ms Ross is not continuing in the role however, hence the need for a replacement. The Chairperson role is important for setting ESMA's supervisory agenda and for ensuring a degree of convergence in how EU member states apply and enforce EU financial market rules.
The proposed replacement for Ms Ross is Carlo Comporti, an Italian national who has been a Commissioner at Consob, the Italian financial markets regulator, since 2022. He is a current member of the Board of Supervisors and Management Board of ESMA and serves as Chairman of the Digital Finance Standing Committee of ESMA. He is also a member of the Board and Chairman of the Audit and Finance Committee of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).
The Digital Finance Standing Committee of which Mr Comporti is Chair, focuses on digital innovation and has been responsible for policy over several areas including MiCA (the EU’s crypto rules), DORA (the EU’s operational resilience rules), the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) pilot regime and other developments in the areas of AI and cybersecurity. The next step of the confirmation process involves a hearing with the ECON committee which is scheduled for 2 September 2026 after which the committee will vote on whether to approve Mr Comporti’s appointment. If successful, the report will be accepted and pass to the full European Parliament for a plenary vote for final approval. This is expected to take place well in advance of the 31 October deadline when Ms Ross steps down.
It is telling that the proposed replacement for Chairperson Ross has an established background in digital finance, having chaired ESMA's own Digital Finance Standing Committee since its establishment and continuing to do so at the time of his nomination. With a major shift in focus across many regulatory jurisdictions currently underway (including in the US and Asia), topics like AI, cybersecurity, tokenisation and crypto-assets are becoming a major part of the work of financial regulators. Given Mr Comporti’s experience with topics like MiCA, DORA and distributed ledgers he seems better equipped than a more conventional candidate for the role.