ESMA's third Sanctions Report highlights the need for greater convergence in enforcement

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU's financial markets regulator and supervisor, published today its consolidated report on sanctions and measures imposed across the European Economic Area (EEA) in 2025, enhancing the transparency of sanctions data reported under EU financial acts within its remit.

In 2025, national authorities across the EEA imposed more than 950 administrative sanctions and measures, a stable number compared with the past two years. The aggregated value of administrative fines amounted to almost €82 million. The report also highlights an increased use of settlements.

As in previous years, activity remained focused mainly on breaches of the Market Abuse Regulation and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and Regulation. Enforcement activity remained concentrated in a small number of jurisdictions, with Germany, France and Spain accounting for two thirds of the total value of administrative fines across the EEA.

Need for stronger convergence

The report highlights significant differences in enforcement, including in the number and type of sanctions imposed, the level of fines and the use of settlement procedures. The findings point to a need for stronger convergence in enforcement, particularly where limited enforcement activity cannot be explained by market size.

Supervisory effectiveness ultimately depends on market participants’ compliance with the rules, and should not be measured solely by the number or value of the sanctions imposed in a Member State. Nevertheless, enforcement actions are an important component of the supervisory toolkit.

Next steps

Building on the findings of this report, ESMA will further continue to foster exchanges among national securities and markets authorities on the effective and consistent implementation of capital markets rules, including through case discussions. The objective is to ensure that similar breaches result in similar enforcement outcomes across the EU, irrespective of where they have been committed.

The underlying data are available in excel format. In addition, a snapshot of the report’s key findings is published here.

Further information:

Ana Dilaverakis

Communications Officer

press@esma.europa.eu