EU finance ministers strike preliminary deal to centralize markets oversight under ESMA

EU finance ministers reached a preliminary political agreement on October 9, 2026, to shift oversight of major cross-border financial players to a single European regulator. The plan is called the Markets Integration and Supervision Package, or MISP. It puts the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in charge of directly supervising a short list of big trading venues, post-trading infrastructures and crypto-asset service providers. What ministers agreed in Luxembourg The deal came together in Luxembourg, with the Irish EU presidency brokering the compromise among national governments. Under the agreement, ESMA would directly supervise about eight major trading venues and select post-trading infrastructures. The crypto piece is notable. ESMA would take direct oversight of 10-15 crypto-asset service providers, out of an estimated 360 operating in the bloc. Most crypto firms would stay with their national supervisors, while only the largest cross-border operators would answer to Paris. Support was broad but not unanimous. 25 member states backed the compromise, and Belgium abstained from the vote. Germany extracted a concession of its own. Berlin secured an exemption for De...