ESMA sets new supervisory priority on digital innovation from 2027

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, will launch a new Union Strategic Supervisory Priority (USSP) to help embrace innovation while protecting investors and maintaining strong safeguards.

The digital innovation USSP aims to ensure supervisors have the expertise and capacity to oversee the use of new technologies. In collaboration with National Competent Authorities, our initial focus will be on how supervised entities use artificial intelligence and tokenisation. We will remain flexible to address future technological developments as they emerge.

The new priority will run alongside the USSP on cyber and operational resilience, which has been in place since 2025. Going forward, we will continue our efforts and coordination to address the challenges ahead, including those emerging from advanced models such as frontier AI.

This year, ESMA is also concluding the USSP on ESG disclosures, following its launch in 2023. Overall, we have made strong progress in improving ESG disclosures and helping investors better understand sustainability information and receive quality advice. While this marks a significant milestone, ESG remains a long-term journey.

▸ Factsheet presenting key information on ongoing and future USSPs

USSPs are ESMA’s convergence tools that address high-risk areas of strategic importance across the EU. They help direct supervisory resources towards the risks that matter most for investor protection, financial stability and the orderly functioning of EU financial markets.

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The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – the ESAs) today published a

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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's securities markets regulator, has published the following question and answer: