Digital Finance and Innovation, Speeches, Trading : Verena Ross' speech at FESE 50th Anniversary Celebration, 3 December 2024

4 December 2024 ESMA74-1658524332-765 Securities markets in 2030 FESE 50th Anniversary Celebration, 3 December 2024, Brussels Verena Ross ESMA Chair Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am delighted to be here with you tonight and wish to extend my warm thanks to the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) for their kind invitation to say a few words in honour of their 50th Anniversary. In such occasions, it is customary to look back at the past, and to look forward to the future. Tonight, I will not describe what securities markets looked like 50 years ago – as one says in French, cela ne nous rajeunit pas. Neither will I attempt an even more perilous description of what securities markets could look like in 50 years time – as one says in English, mission impossible. Tonight, I will provide a more modest outlook of ESMA’s vision for securities markets in 2030 – only a few months after the end of the term of our newly appointed Commissioner Maria Luis Albuerque, whom I would like to warmly congratulate for her start in office two days ago. In this outlook, I will first touch upon the trends we see impacting securities markets, to then turn to our aspirations for genuine pan-European markets, markets that work for the financing of our European economy. Underlying trends in securities markets When thinking of overall trends impacting securities markets, digital innovation, and its latest avatar Artificial Intelligence (AI) often comes...