Registration with ESMA

As the European financial markets’ supervisor, ESMA oversees a range of financial entities that are essential to the EU’s market infrastructure. The registration process with ESMA depends on the regulation applicable, and it may be referred to as “registration”, “authorisation”, “endorsement”, “certification” or “recognition”. Applicants who intend to apply to ESMA can find on this page key information regarding the registration process, including milestones, expectations, and a list of documents to be provided.

Registration is the process through which financial entities within ESMA’s remit of supervision are allowed to offer their services in the EU Financial markets. In that sense, ESMA acts as the gatekeeper of financial markets, as it guarantees that entities operating in these markets meet the relevant standards and are allowed to offer their services in the EU. By making sure that financial entities comply with European regulation, registration helps maintain confidence in financial markets and protect consumers from fraud and malpractice.

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The Registration Guide provides detailed information on ESMA registration process:

This Guide presents the different steps of ESMA’s assessment of applications for registration. It also presents the criteria used during this review, as it aims at bringing more transparency to the registration process as a whole. This reflects ESMA’s objective to make the registration process more efficient and coherent across the different mandates, while still considering the specificities of relevant legal frameworks.

This guide is not legally binding and does not constitute legal advice. It is a practical tool meant to support applicants in preparing for their registration application. As such, it does not address issues relating to the substantive examination of the conditions for registration, nor does it provide guidance on how to meet the conditions for registration. This guide will be updated regularly to reflect new regulatory developments.

Please note that Central Counterparties have a dedicated registration process. Please refer to the related webpage for further information.

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Applications under ESMA’s remit

(Click on the mandate to see related branches)

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Registration process

Please refer to the relevant mandate’s webpage (listed at the bottom of this page) to find information on the timeline relevant to your application.

For the registration process to run smoothly and without delays, it is important that applicants thoroughly prepare their applications and demonstrate that they are:

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New supervisory responsibilities

As part of its new supervisory responsibilities, ESMA has

new supervisory powers over new types of entities of the European financial ecosystem:
new oversight powers alongside the EBA and EIOPA, as “Lead Overseer”. This means ESMA will monitor the activities of Critical ICT third-party service providers (CTPPs) that provide services to financial entities. For additional information on this, refer to our DORA webpage.

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Registration Forms

Please find below the Registration forms for each supervisory mandate. When filling in the relevant form, please make sure to :

specify in an index the name or unique reference number given to each document submitted in support of the application,
include the precise reference of the document where the information can be found for each question of the application form, and
ensure consistency within and across all documents.

For a document to be considered by ESMA, it needs to be clearly referenced under the relevant requirement in the application form.

Given the current legislative reforms underway, not all application forms have been published yet, and this section will be updated as and when they become available.