ESMA and the 2019 Work Programme ESMA's 2019 work programme focuses on promoting supervisory convergence, assessing risks to investors and financial stability, and completing the EU's single rulebook. Key areas of focus include addressing Brexit, fostering regulatory debates among national authorities, and increasing convergence in investment fund management. ESMA aims to enhance its role in ensuring consistent supervision and reducing opportunities for regulatory arbitrage across Europe.

2. ESMA and the 2019 Work Programme
• ESMA 2019 work programme was recently issued (please find it here).
• ESMA achieves its objectives by:
• assessing the risks to investors and the stability of financial markets,
• promoting convergence amongst securities regulators and across financial sectors,
• developing a single rulebook in Europe for the financial services and
• directly supervising specific financial entities.
• ESMA when compared to the CESR was granted with:
• new competencies; and
• additional powers.
• One area of significant departure is related to the position that ESMA occupies in the law-making
process at European level.

3. ESMA Mission, objectives and activities
• Mission: enhance investor protection and promote stable and orderly financial markets.
• Objectives:
• Investor Protection
• Orderly Markets
• Financial Stability
• Activities:
• Promoting Supervisory Convergence
• Assessing risks to investors, markets and financial stability
• Completing single rulebook for EU financial markets
• Directly supervising specific financial entities

4. Supervisory Convergence
• ESMA is called to play a bigger role in supervisory convergence as part of an organic growth of its
competences.
• Shift at EU level since the financial crisis in 2008 from building the European rule-book to ensure
that the multitude of regulatory provisions are applied consistently across Europe.
• Supervisory convergence means ensuring that the same regulatory and supervisory outcome is
obtained in similar circumstances.
• Supervisory convergence ensures across Europe:
• homogeneous and levelled environment for regulation and supervision;
• reduced possibilities for regulatory arbitrage within different areas of financial services.

5. Brexit
• ESMA will keep addressing Brexit and the complexities of the existing EU regulatory book in 2019
• ESMA 2019 work programme will see ESMA:
• More engaged with NCAs across a varied broad spectrum of activities;
• Fostering debates on real cases of regulatory supervision; as well as
• Organising peer reviews of regulators on certain specific areas of regulatory supervision.
• Investment Management
• efforts of supervisory convergence will also be deployed in the area of investment management
• greater convergence and consistency in the approach adopted by National Competent Authorities
(NCAs) across Europe;
• specific focus on application of the UCITS and AIFM directives

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