Verena Ross Becomes the New ESMA Chair

Verena Ross Becomes the New ESMA Chair

Anneli Tuominen will relinquish her position as Interim Chair on October 31.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced that it appointed Verena Ross as its new Chair on Friday. According to the press release, Ross was confirmed by the Council of the European Union in a meeting that took place today in Brussels, whose appointment for a five-year term will be effective on November 1.

She will replace Steven Maijoor in the role, and his role as Chair of ESMA is subject to be renewable. Her professional background includes serving as Executive Director at the European Union financial regulator from 2011 to 2021. Ross, from Germany, also had regulatory and supervisory roles while working in London.

“I am honored to have been entrusted with this role as ESMA enters its second decade. I am looking forward to working with the Board members, ESMA staff, and our stakeholders in responding to the challenges and opportunities faced by the European Union and its capital markets. I believe that ESMA has an important role to play in ensuring that European markets support the financial needs of its companies and citizens,” the new Chair commented.

Since April 2021, Anneli Tuominen has acted as Interim Chair at ESMA, who will resign from this position on October 31. She was previously Vice-Chair of ESMA and Director-General at the FIN-FSA of Finland. “For my own part, it has been an honor to lead ESMA for the last 7 months, and I want to thank ESMA staff for their commitment and praise them for their high level of expertise. My thanks also to my colleagues on the Management Board and Board of Supervisors for their support,” Tuominen said in a statement.

Previous Critical Appointments

Early this year, ESMA appointed Annemie Rombouts as its new Chair of the Corporate Reporting Standing Committee (CRSC). Prior to the announcement from ESMA, Rombouts joined forces with the Belgian Banking and Finance Commission, the supervisory authority for banking and financial markets and predecessor of the FSMA in 1999.