Speaking at a ceremony in which the authority came into being on 12 July, EU Commissioner Michel Barnier outlined some of ESMA’s concerns and goals going forward.
Credit rating agencies (CRA) came under fire in the speech with Barnier stating ESMA is working on new initiatives to reduce over-reliance on their views, including new rules being added to the EU’s Capital Requirements Directive. The additions are to be announced on 20 July and while that mostly covers banks, the authority also intends to address asset management and investment fund sector use of ratings before the end of the year.
“CRA ratings are too embedded in our legislation, and I intend to reduce as much as possible the references made to those ratings in our prudential rules," he said. "That is my first priority.”
ESMA sits at the centre of a network of European Union securities supervisors and Barnier believes coherent and harmonised supervisory standards need to be created. Transparency is a key issue for the authority and Barnier points out this must go beyond shares to encompass commodities and derivatives.
“Commodity markets in particular are just too important, both for producers and consumers throughout the world, for them to be manipulated by actors with no link or interest in the actual trade or the physical markets.”
