Council appoints Carlo Comporti to chair EU securities regulator ESMA

The Council of the European Union has appointed Carlo Comporti as Chairperson of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) for a five-year term beginning 1 November 2026. The appointment is formalised in Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2276 of 9 October 2026, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, on 12 October 2026. The decision was signed at Luxembourg by the President of the Council, S. Harris.

The decision rests on Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of 24 November 2010, which established ESMA as a European Supervisory Authority, amended Decision No 716/2009/EC and repealed Commission Decision 2009/77/EC. Under Article 48(2) of that regulation, the Chairperson is selected on the basis of merit, skills, knowledge of financial market participants and of markets, and experience relevant to financial supervision and regulation, following an open selection procedure. The appointment follows a proposal from ESMA’s Board of Supervisors.

How the appointment was made

The selection ran through 2026 in four documented steps:

• 20 May 2026: ESMA submitted to the Council a shortlist of two candidates for the position of Chairperson.
• 9 July 2026: the two shortlisted candidates were interviewed by the Presidency of the Council on behalf of the Member States.
• 22 July 2026: the Council selected Carlo Comporti among the two candidates and notified the European Parliament, requesting its confirmation.
• 15 September 2026: the European Parliament provided its confirmation.

Under Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010, the Board of Supervisors draws up the shortlist of qualified candidates with the assistance of the Commission, and the Council adopts the appointment decision only after the European Parliament has confirmed the candidate.

The mandate and its legal effect

Article 1 of the decision appoints Carlo Comporti as Chairperson of ESMA for a period of five years from 1 November 2026, a mandate running to 31 October 2031. The regulation sets the term of office at five years and allows it to be extended once.

Article 2 provides that the decision enters into force on the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Carlo Comporti succeeds Verena Ross, whose mandate as Chairperson of ESMA ends on 31 October 2026, so the new term begins the day after the outgoing chair’s mandate expires.

What changes on 1 November

The handover leaves no gap at the top of the authority established by Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 as the European Supervisory Authority for securities and markets. The decision fixes both the identity of the incoming chair and the exact start of the five-year term, giving market participants a defined date for the change of leadership.

The appointment was completed through the full procedure required by the regulation: an open selection, a two-name shortlist from the Board of Supervisors, interviews by the Council Presidency, selection by the Council and confirmation by the European Parliament. The published decision records each of those steps and the dates on which they occurred.

For readers, the practical effect is a scheduled change of leadership at the EU’s securities supervisor from 1 November 2026, with Carlo Comporti holding the post for five years and the possibility of a single extension under the founding regulation.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, 2026/2276, 12 October 2026, p. 1 (official reference: Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2276).