Renew Europe welcomes Committee approval of Verena Ross as ESMA chair

Renew Europe welcomes that the Committee of Economic and Monetary Affairs today voted in favour of the appointment of Verena Ross to become the next chair in the European Securities and Markets Authority, the EU’s financial watchdog. Verena Ross was the candidate supported by Renew Europe and will after the endorsement in Council and confirmation in plenary next week be the fourth consecutive woman after Christine Lagarde at the ECB, Petra Hielkema at EIOPA and Natasha Cazenave at ESMA, to be appointed a lead position in European financial regulators and supervisors.

MEP Luis Garicano, Vice-Chair of Renew Europe Group and Group coordinator for the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, says: "Renew Europe´s pressure yielded results. I am very pleased to appoint the fourth woman to the top of the financial European industry. After Christine Lagarde at the ECB, Petra Hielkema at EIOPA and Natasha Cazenave at ESMA, comes Verena Ross."

Notes to editors: The Paris-based European Securities and Markets Authority has been without a chair since March, due to a political standoff in the Council of the European Union. ESMA sets the EU’s trading standards on shares, bonds, derivatives and commodities, and it plays a key role overseeing multitrillion-euros clearinghouses.