On December 15, The Board of Supervisors of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA ) announced the appointment of Erik Thedéen as its new Vice Chairman. Mr Thedéen, who is currently the Director-General of the Swedish Finansinspektionen (FI), will serve a 2½ year term as the Vice Chair of ESMA. His appointment starts with immediate effect. Thedéen is replacing Anneli Tuominen, the Director-General of the Finnish Finanssivalvonta (FIN-FSA) who has completed her term.
Meanwhile, Verena Ross, the Chairperson at ESMA, stated: “I am happy to announce the appointment of Erik Thedéen as Vice Chair of ESMA. As a Board Member since January 2018, he has demonstrated his commitment to ESMA through his active participation in our supervisory work. He brings a wealth of national and international experience to the role, and I look forward to working with him. Besides that, I want to take the opportunity to thank Anneli Tuominen for her work over the years, and particularly for the key role she has played as Interim Chair this year.”
Established in 2011, ESMA is an independent European Union Authority headquartered in Paris whose role is to improve investor protection and promote stable and orderly financial markets. The regulator is responsible for carrying out measures taken by securities supervisors or adopting emergency measures when a crisis situation arises. Those who benefit from the services being offered by the agency include jurisdictions (economies) within Europe, the general public, securities markets regulators, the financial services industry, retail and institutional investors and consumers, financial services providers and users of financial markets.
Stock Markets to See Corrections
The development by ESMA comes at a time when European Union financial markets are currently experiencing high valuations and even ahead of pre-pandemic levels. The markets are seeing increased valuations, a prolonged period of risk to retail and institutional investors, accompanied by a potential significant correction. In September, the regulator released its latest reports on vulnerabilities, risks and trends in the markets.
The current market trends show their resilience over an extended period of time. Helped by the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and sustained public support of the economy, corporate bonds are far above their pre-coronavirus level, with increased risk also being witnessed in cryptocurrencies and stocks. Investor confidence has increased because of the increasing asset prices and strong performance of retail investors instruments.
A rise in retail trading since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic has been influenced by innovation as well as new mobile and online trading platforms that provide zero commission business models and 'gamified' features further attracting consumers. However, such features can prompt investor protection concerns, as the increase of trading is driven by online message boards and social media, ESMA stated.
