Over the next five years, the regulator will work to facilitate the use of new data-related technologies, reduce reporting compliance costs by regulated entities, enable the effective use of data at both EU and national level; and make data more broadly available to the public.
The EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor is making a serious push towards the support, regulation and expansion of data usage and management – and has already started with the scaling up of its data capabilities and the implementation of some of the first planned deliverables.
“We want to contribute to reducing the compliance burden for companies and facilitate data reporting by means of increased standardisation and the use of modern IT solutions across the reporting process and the entire data lifecycle,” said ESMA chair Verena Ross at the launch of the new strategy last week.
“We want to contribute to reducing the compliance burden for companies and facilitate data reporting by means of increased standardisation and the use of modern IT solutions across the reporting process and the entire data lifecycle.”
A key initiative central to its strategy is the European Single Access Point (ESAP), first proposed in 2021: a central data platform designed to provide EU-wide access to information on capital markets (including all EU listed companies and investment products), financial services and sustainable finance. The European Commission and Council agreed on a timeline for the new platform just last month (May 2023), with plans to approve legislation by 31 December 2024 and a 42-month implementation programme that should see it operational by mid-2027.
“Our goal is to provide easier access to financial data, both through enhanced data sharing with authorities across the EU and at national level,” said Ross last week. “Initiatives such as ESAP will provide access to financial data to the wider market, including retail investors.”
The latest data strategy, announced on 15 June 2023, expands ESMA’s ambitions further in the space. This includes the stated goal of becoming an “enhanced data hub” for the securities markets, focusing on improved data and information accessibility, interoperability and usability, along with achieving economies of scale.
Other focus areas include ensuring access to usable information for market participants in machine readable formats and via “user-friendly search and analytical interfaces” along with increasing data collaboration, achieving better data standardisation, and promoting the adoption of innovative technologies.
In addition, ESMA plans to actively promote data-driven supervision through the use of “cutting-edge, smart and effective” new technologies: facilitating systematic data use for “evidence-based policy development, supervision and risk assessment.”
Finally, the five-year plan aims to ease the current compliance on reporting firms by producing efficient data policy output, reducing duplicative and inconsistent requirements, and optimising reporting flows.
©Markets Media Europe 2023
