The European Securities and Markets Authority has published its 2019 Annual Report together with an updated version of its 2020 Work Program, incorporating changes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
ESMA’s 2019 Annual Report discusses ESMA’s work in 2019, which included: (a) the entry into force of EMIR 2.2, including significant new responsibilities for ESMA in the authorization and supervision of CCPs; (b) ESMA’s common supervisory action on the application of the revised Markets in Financial Instrument Directive’s requirements on the assessment of appropriateness, for which ESMA will consider whether any follow-up work is needed in 2020; (c) reviews of MiFID II and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation, including on fair access to, and lowering the cost of, market data and the consolidated tape; and (d) sustainable finance, including technical advice delivered to the European Commission on the integration of sustainability risks for investment firms and investment funds into relevant EU legislation, a report on undue short-termism in securities markets and contributions to the technical expert group on sustainable finance which is due to deliver technical advice on delegated legislation relating to the EU Benchmarks Regulation.
 
ESMA’s updated 2020 Work Program reprioritizes ESMA’s workload for 2020, prioritizing activities in the following areas:

• Supervisory convergence: ESMA will focus on: (i) detecting issues arising from the application of MiFID II and MiFIR for secondary markets and investor protection, evaluating the quality of reported data (with regard to the outcome of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation data quality peer review); (ii) monitoring market developments in ESMA’s convergence initiatives for financial innovation; and (iii) continuing to work to ensure a coordinated response to COVID-19, in particular short selling, transparency and reporting obligations;
• Risk assessments: ESMA will focus on ensuring it makes good use of the data collected in its risk assessments;
• Single Rulebook: ESMA will focus on the Capital Markets Union, FinTech and Sustainable Finance as well as the development of technical standards under EMIR Refit and EMIR 2.2 and providing advice to the Commission on MiFID II, MiFIR and the Market Abuse Regulation; and
• Direct Supervision: ESMA’s supervisory work will continue as normal, with a particular focus on engaging with credit rating agencies subject to its direct supervision in order to assess the impact of COVID-19 on their operations.

View ESMA's 2019 Annual Report and updated 2020 Work Plan.
 
View details of ESMA's original 2020 Work Plan.
 
View details of EMIR 2.2.
 
View details of ESMA's report on prices for market data and the consolidate tape.

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