European regulators are reportedly planning to expand central supervision of stock exchanges and cryptocurrency exchanges.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This effort is part of a larger push to strengthen the EU\u2019s competitiveness in relation to the U.S. by making sure companies can find funding and scale within Europe without having to go overseas, the Financial Times (FT) reported<\/a> Sunday (Nov. 2).\u00a0<\/p>\n The current landscape, with dozens of national and regional regulators and hundreds of trading and post-trading institutions, raises the costs for cross-border trades, a significant obstacle for startups to scale up in Europe.<\/p>\n According to the report, a single supervisor \u2014 modeled on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission<\/a> (SEC) is considered a major step in creating an EU \u201ccapital markets union.\u201d The European Commission (EC) has said it will issue proposals next month for a \u201cmarkets integration package,\u201d the report added.<\/p>\n The plan calls for expanding the powers of the European Securities and Markets Authority<\/a> (ESMA) to cover \u201cthe most significant cross-border entities,\u201d like crypto exchanges, sources familiar with the matter told the FT.\u00a0<\/p>\n The report added that while some governments support the move, others like Luxembourg and Ireland contend that it could harm their national financial sector, as they are skeptical that EU regulators would act in the best interests of smaller nations.<\/p>\n Advertisement: Scroll to Continue<\/p>\n \u201cWe would like to have [supervisory] convergence rather than creating a costly and ineffective centralized model,\u201d said Gilles Roth, Luxembourg\u2019s finance minister.<\/p>\n In other regulatory news, PYMNTS\u2019 Competition Policy International spoke last week with Andrew C. Glass<\/a> and Gregory N. Blase<\/a>, both partners at law firm Nixon Peabody<\/a>, about the scramble among banks, FinTechs and retailers to stake their claims following the adoption of the GENIUS Act, America\u2019s first stablecoin bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve recently seen a lot of press about how crypto companies, retailers, [and] trustees are all jumping into the marketplace seeking charters from the OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency],\u201d Glass said. \u201cThe goal for promoting competition<\/a> will likely be met.<\/p>\n