On 3 December 2024, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published the speech given by its chair, Verena Ross, at the FESE 50th Anniversary Celebration.

Key points in the speech include:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) will have become as common as electronic trading did from the 1990s onwards.
• The impact of this innovation on exchanges is two-fold: on the one hand, exchanges will need to invest in AI for their own operations, and on the other hand, they also need to oversee the growing use of AI by their members, their participants, and the wider ecosystem.
• In terms of ESMA’s assessment of MiFIR pre-trade transparency waivers, ESMA is seeing the growth of Frequent-Batch Auctions and of Dark-Lit Sweep orders. Both seem to be accelerated by the rise in closing auctions and can be seen as blurring the lines between lit and dark trading.
• ESMA is confident that by 2030 consolidated tapes will be ensuring the visibility of EU securities markets, both within Europe and abroad.
• ESMA will release its Feedback Statement on its approach to assess consolidated tape provider (CTP) applicants in the next few weeks. It will then launch the selection for the bonds CTP on 3 January 2025, and plan to do so for the equities CTP in June 2025.