Dutch regulator Steven Maijoor has been chosen to head the European Union's new securities authority, a powerful watchdog with the ability to impose binding financial rules on member states, according to Reuters. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), based in Paris, was launched on Jan. 1. It is one of three new pan-EU regulatory authorities, the other two tasked with supervising insurers and financial institutions. Maijoor, a managing director at Dutch financial markets regulator AFM since 2004, was previously responsible for overseeing financial reporting, auditing and integrity issues in Dutch financial markets. The 46-year-old Dutchman was vice chairman and then chairman of the International Forum of Independent Audit Regulators from 2007-10. He is also a part-time professor at Maastricht University and Amsterdam's VU University. "ESMA has been given significantly powerful and innovative tools to intensify a network approach to supervision, which will increase investor confidence in Europe's securities markets and will enhance investor protection significantly," Maijoor said. ESMA, which replaces the Committee of European Securities Regulators, aims to create a single EU rule book on securities legislation and will be responsible for coordinating securities supervisors and adopting emergency measures during a crisis. ESMA will be working closely with another two new EU supervisory authorities -- the London-based European Banking Authority (EBA) and the Frankfurt-based European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA). Sources close to the matter told Reuters this week that Andrea Enria, a senior official at the Bank of Italy, has been appointed to head the EBA while Portuguese regulator Gabriel Bernardin will head the EIOPA. All three proposed chairmen will have to take part in confirmation hearings at the European Parliament.
