On 13 November 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a press release stating that it has identified costs and performance for retail investment products and market data quality as EU strategic supervisory priorities for Member State competent authorities (NCAs).

Under its revised Regulation, ESMA is now responsible for identifying supervisory priorities to address key market risks impacting Member States. In this context, ESMA will coordinate supervisory action with NCAs on specific topics, the aim being to provide a structured and comprehensive response to such key risks. NCAs will incorporate these priorities into their supervisory work programmes.

ESMA considers that problems linked to cost and performance are multifaceted due to the lack of transparency and undue costs or differences observed in the application of certain MiFID requirements across Member States. The reporting datasets and requirements have grown exponentially since the 2008 financial crisis and data quality is improving. A better understanding of the requirements by market participants could avoid poor and late reporting.