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In 2018 ESMA’s key achievements and highlights included its work on:
Promoting Supervisory Convergence
Brexit preparations including the work of the Supervisory Coordination Network; and
Product Intervention Measures – first use of ESMA’s powers to restrict the sale and marketing of CFDs to retail investors and ban binary options;
Assessing risks to investors, markets and financial stability
MiFID II/MiFIR Data Management – successful data collection, processing and analysis with publication of key calculations and data under MiFID II/MiFIR;
EU Derivatives Market – first annual report estimate its size at €660 trillion notional;
Retail Investment Products – first annual report on costs and returns of UCITS, alternative investment funds and structured retail products;
Financial Innovation – provision of advice on initial coin offerings and crypto-assets;
Completing a Single Rulebook for EU financial markets
Securitisation – finalised draft RTS and ITS to implement the new regulatory framework for securitisations and help promote STS securitisations;
Post Trading – developed rules on the clearing obligation to ensure a level playing field between covered bonds and securitisation in relation to the Securitisation Regulation;
Prospectus Regulation – provided technical advice proposing simplifications aimed at maintaining high levels of investor protection while promoting new financing possibilities;
Directly supervising specific financial entities
Ensuring that credit rating agencies (CRAs) and trade repositories were properly prepared for Brexit including a no-deal scenario; and
Enforcement action and fines for breaches of the CRA Regulation by several Nordic banks.
The priorities identified in the 2018 annual work programme were:
Supervisory convergence: implementation of MiFID II/MiFIR, Brexit preparation;
Assessing risks: enhancing analytical input into ESMA’s operational work;
Single rulebook: Securitisation, Prospectus, Money Market Funds and EMIR Review;
Direct supervision: supervision of CRAs and TRs and their ancillary activities.