Carlo Comporti will take over as ESMA chair on 1 November after the Council of the European Union formally appointed him on 9 October. The five-year mandate follows earlier political approval, giving Europe’s financial markets regulator a confirmed succession date.
| What you need to know |
|---|
| 1The Council formally appointed Comporti on 9 October. |
| 2His five-year term begins on 1 November 2026. |
| 3Parliament endorsed the appointment on 15 September. |
| 4His previous ESMA roles include chairing its digital finance committee. |
The Council’s appointment notice says Comporti’s term can be extended once. He currently serves as a commissioner at Italy’s securities regulator CONSOB and sits on both ESMA’s board of supervisors and its management board. He succeeds Verena Ross, who has chaired the authority for the past five years.
Four dates explain the handover
The selection involved several separate decisions. ESMA’s board submitted two candidates, after which EU ambassadors provisionally agreed on Comporti in July. The European Parliament endorsed his appointment on 15 September. The formal Council decision on 9 October completed that sequence, with the start of his term still three weeks away.
For readers tracking regulatory leadership, the distinction is practical: an approved candidate and a serving chair occupy different stages of the process. Ross remains identified as the current chair in ESMA’s own announcement, while Comporti is described as the incoming chair. The November start date prevents the appointment from being mistaken for an immediate change at the top.
Digital finance experience within the institution
ESMA’s biography adds a detail absent from the shorter Council notice: during his time at CONSOB, Comporti also chaired ESMA’s Digital Finance Standing Committee. That establishes prior involvement in the regulator’s technology work. Neither announcement sets out a new crypto rule or a change to firms’ permissions, so the appointment itself gives no basis for assuming an immediate shift in requirements.
Comporti’s statement focuses on developing and integrating European markets to serve companies and investors. It does not specify a new digital asset programme. Readers looking for operational changes will therefore need the relevant published decision or policy document, rather than treating the chair’s professional background as a promise of a particular outcome.
His familiarity with the organisation also predates its current form. ESMA says he became secretary general of the Committee of European Securities Regulators in 2008 and helped with its transition into ESMA in 2010 and 2011. His return as chair follows both that institutional work and a later period in financial regulatory consulting.
Photo: ESMA’s official press portrait of Carlo Comporti.
