European Securities and Markets Authority

ESMA is the European Union's securities markets authority. It does not generally supervise firms directly — that remains with national regulators — but it sets standards and coordinates to ensure consistent application across member states.

Its role is convergence: reducing the extent to which the same activity is treated differently in different EU countries.

Fund managers marketing across the EU operate under frameworks ESMA helps shape, particularly the rules governing cross-border marketing of alternative investment funds.

For founders, ESMA's influence is mostly indirect but matters for fintech and crypto companies, where EU-wide frameworks increasingly replace divergent national rules.