ESMA's next chair is Carlo Comporti, who led its digital finance committee
Serguey Asael Shinder2 min readThe European Securities and Markets Authority announced on 9 October that Carlo Comporti will be its next Chair, after the appointment was confirmed by the Council of the European Union at a meeting in Brussels the same day. He takes office on 1 November 2026, succeeding Verena Ross, who has chaired ESMA for five years.
Why a crypto desk notes it. Since February 2022 Comporti has been a commissioner at Italy's market regulator, CONSOB, and in that role sat on ESMA's Board of Supervisors and Management Board. Among his ESMA roles, the release lists chair of the Digital Finance Standing Committee — ESMA's standing committee on digital finance. The incoming chair is therefore close to the subject area of the files that have filled this site's regulation desk for weeks: ESMA's opinion telling crypto-asset service providers to stop serving non-MiCA stablecoins, its call for evidence on tokenised collateral in central clearing, and the transitional regime for third-country central securities depositories.
His record, per ESMA. Before CONSOB, Comporti was chief executive of Promontory Italy and chief operating officer of Promontory Europe, part of IBM Consulting, from 2011 to 2022, after serving as Directeur Général of Promontory France. Earlier he was Secretary General of CESR, the Committee of European Securities Regulators, from 2008, and the release credits him with a key role in turning CESR into ESMA in 2010–2011. He has also sat on the board of IOSCO, the global securities regulators' body, chairing its Audit and Finance Committee.
What he said. Comporti described ESMA as being at the heart of discussions shaping the future of European financial markets and said its role in developing and integrating those markets matters now more than ever. He named the Commission and the European Central Bank among the institutions he expects to work with. The release contains no statement of priorities on crypto-assets specifically, and it would be guesswork to read one into it.
A second change on the board. Because Comporti leaves ESMA's Management Board to become its chair, the Board of Supervisors elected Carlos San Basilio of Spain's CNMV to the vacant seat on 6 October. From 1 November the Management Board will be Comporti as chair; Thorsten Pötzsch of Germany's BaFin; San Basilio; Marie-Anne Barbat-Layani of France's AMF; Christopher P. Buttigieg of the Malta Financial Services Authority; and, without votes, Executive Director Natasha Cazenave and a Commission representative.
Sources: ESMA, Carlo Comporti appointed Chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority, 9 October 2026 — https://www.esma.europa.eu/press-news/esma-news/carlo-comporti-appointed-chair-european-securities-and-markets-authority ; ESMA, Management Board appointment — https://www.esma.europa.eu/press-news/esma-news/esma-appoints-carlos-san-basilio-new-member-its-management-board