European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the pan-European regulatory body, has chosen Steven Maijoor, managing director of the Netherlands’ Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), as its proposed first chair, following a vote by ESMA's board of supervisors (BoS).
The chairperson represents ESMA, and is responsible for preparing the work of the BoS and chairs the meetings of the BoS and the management board. The full-time chair of ESMA is to serve for a term of five years, based at ESMA's headquarters in Paris. Before taking up his duties, the selected chairperson will be heard by the European Parliament, which has up to one month to object to his designation.
Maijoor was formerly vice chair at the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators from 2007 to 2010. Prior to that, he worked as a professor of control and auditing at the Maastricht University, from 1987 to 2009.
ESMA became operational, following the first meeting of its BoS on 11 January 2011 in Paris. Carlos Tavares, the chairman of the Portuguese securities market regulator Commissao do Mercado de Valores Mobilarios, was elected vice chairman and acting chair of ESMA until the elected chair takes office. The BoS also set up the management board of ESMA by selecting its first six members.
ESMA replaces the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR), an advisory body mandated to harmonise regulation across the EU. ESMA has expanded CESR's role, with greater powers to enforce technical standards and coordinate national markets in times of crisis, as well as an expanded remit and responsibilities. Proposals from the European Commission (EC) for MiFID II in Q2 2011 will add to ESMA's powers, if the EC follows the technical advice provided to it by CESR as part of its MiFID review.
The proposed powers would give ESMA responsibility for overseeing the development of the European consolidated tape, development of technical standards for trading venues and the oversight for waivers, with power to ensure they are issued in accordance with EU rules. The EC is running a consultation on MiFID which will determine the detail of these proposals, due to close on 2 February.