Carlo Comporti takes office as ESMA Chair, succeeding Verena Ross

📅 01 November 2026 • European Securities and Markets Authority

Carlo Comporti takes office as ESMA Chair, succeeding Verena Ross

Carlo Comporti took office as Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on 1 November 2026. He succeeds Verena Ross, whose five-year mandate ended on 31 October 2026. The Council of the EU confirmed the appointment on 9 October 2026 in press release ESMA71-545613100-3014. The handover changes the officeholder, not the rulebook: no new requirement or supervisory measure follows.

How the appointment was made

The Chair is appointed by the Council of the EU from a shortlist drawn up by the ESMA Board of Supervisors, after confirmation by Parliament. ESMA submitted a shortlist of two candidates on 20 May 2026, EU ambassadors provisionally agreed on Comporti on 22 July 2026, and Parliament endorsed the appointment on 15 September 2026. The term runs five years, extendable once.

Comporti has been a Commissioner at CONSOB, the Italian regulator, since February 2022, and earlier led the CESR secretariat from 2008, in the transition to ESMA in 2010 and 2011. Verena Ross announced on 10 December 2025 that she would not seek a second mandate. In remarks carried by Securities Finance Times she said: It has been a true honour to lead ESMA as chair for the last five years.

One seat changes on the Management Board

From the same date the Management Board has seven voting members: Comporti as Chair, Thorsten Pötzsch (BaFin), Carlos San Basilio (CNMV), Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani (AMF), Christopher P. Buttigieg (MFSA), Peter Tkáč (NBS) and Armi Taipale (FIN-FSA). San Basilio was elected on 6 October 2026 to the seat vacated by Comporti.

The files that stay open

The transition does not alter the work programme. Open items include the application of MiCA and the supervision of crypto-asset service providers, where ESMA has proposed changes for clarity, and the move to a T+1 settlement cycle on 11 October 2027, with a first deadline of 7 December 2026 for allocations and confirmations. The ESMA 2027 work programme is the reference frame.

IMPACT

Who is affected: EU securities firms, crypto-asset service providers and compliance teams dealing with ESMA and national competent authorities. What changes in processes: the name at the top of ESMA and the Management Board seat held by the Italian regulator. Standards, guidelines, registers and supervisory priorities are unchanged, and open files continue on their timelines.

Timelines: MiCA application and supervision of crypto-asset service providers continue, and T+1 settlement arrives on 11 October 2027, with allocations and confirmations compliant from 7 December 2026.

What to do now: monitor strategy signals under the new Chair in the 2027 work programme, keep MiCA timelines on the compliance plan, keep T+1 readiness planning running, and update internal regulator-contact mappings. Risks of missing them: treating a change of office as a change of rules, leaving MiCA authorisation checks incomplete, and missing the first T+1 milestone in December 2026.

Sources
Sources: European Securities and Markets Authority, ESMA Newsletter, Securities Finance Times.

Sources:

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Carlo Comporti takes office as ESMA Chair, succeeding Verena Ross

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