Reuters: European Central Bank supports EU including crypto asset service providers under ESMA unified regulation

ME News, April 10 (UTC+8): The European Central Bank (ECB) on Friday expressed support for the European Commission’s plan to integrate and unify oversight of EU capital markets through a common regulator framework across the European Union. The plan, led by France and Germany, aims to boost the EU’s competitiveness when facing competition from the United States and China by moving financial market regulatory authority from the national level up to the EU level. Under this proposal, regulatory authority over systemically important cross-border financial market participants—including major trading venues, central counterparties, central securities depositories, and crypto asset service providers—will be transferred from national authorities to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), headquartered in Paris.

The ECB said this would deepen the integration of EU capital markets and financial regulation, but stressed that ESMA must be given sufficient personnel and funding to assume the newly added responsibilities. It also recommended that the transition from national-level to EU-level regulation be carried out in an orderly manner to reduce market disruption. The European Commission’s proposal is currently set to enter the legislative negotiation process between the European Union member state governments and the European Parliament, and is expected to be completed in several months. (Source: Foresight News)