The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published a new Digital Strategy 2026-2028 and updated the Data Strategy 2023-2028. The former is aimed at continuing the regulator’s digital transformation while the latter is updated to “capitalise on opportunities to simplify, better integrate, and streamline data management and technology”.
Together, the two documents reflect a commitment to smarter regulatory reporting and technology-driven supervision as well as efforts to promote innovation and reduce unnecessary complexity, ESMA states in a press release.
Looking to the future
The Digital Strategy 2026-2028 is designed as a roadmap for promoting innovation, efficiency, and resilience. It is centred around four key objectives – building EU digital synergies; enhancing the digital capabilities of ESMA and the European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS); bolstering operational efficiency; and establishing a secure and future-ready ecosystem.
Keeping with the times
The key objectives of the Data Strategy 2023-2028 remain the same, but the document has been updated to reflect changes in the technological landscape as well as the new focus on reducing burdens and leveraging opportunities for efficiency.
New key actions added in the update include flagship initiatives to streamline supervisory reporting; expanding the capacity of the ESMA Data Platform to benefit both national and European authorities; implementing the next phases of the joint supervisory tool for crypto market monitoring under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR); and finalising the development of the European Single Access Point (ESAP).
ESMA aims to converge the two strategies into one by 2029.
