BRUSSELS, March 12, 2026 — The European Union’s six largest economies have backed plans to centralise supervision of capital markets across the bloc, including oversight of crypto-asset service providers, according to a letter from finance ministers seen by Reuters.
Finance ministers from Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, and the Netherlands said they support improving the convergence and efficiency of capital markets supervision as part of efforts to advance the EU’s proposed Savings and Investments Union, a long-running initiative aimed at strengthening financial integration across the bloc.
The shift follows a change in position by Germany, which had previously expressed concerns about transferring supervisory responsibilities from national regulators to the European level.
Centralised supervision proposal
To improve capital flows across the 27-member European Union, the European Commission proposed a package of reforms in December that includes centralising supervision of significant cross-border trading venues, central counterparties, and crypto-asset service providers.
The proposal forms part of broader efforts to deepen European capital markets, which governments say have remained fragmented and have limited investment, innovation, pension development, and the international role of the euro.
Germany, along with financial centres such as Luxembourg and Ireland, had previously expressed reservations about transferring oversight of financial institutions to EU-level supervision.
Letter from finance ministers
In a letter dated March 11, the six finance ministers said they support moving toward centralised supervision of the most systemically relevant cross-border financial market infrastructures.
“We support improving the convergence and efficiency of the supervision of capital markets across the EU, moving toward centralised supervision for the most systemically relevant cross-border financial market infrastructures,” the ministers wrote.
The letter was addressed to the European Commission, the president of the Eurogroup, and the Cypriot presidency of the EU, which will oversee negotiations on the proposal.
The six countries account for roughly 95% of EU capital markets, according to the letter.
Broader market integration plans
EU governments have long argued that fragmented supervision across member states has held back the development of deeper capital markets across the bloc.
The Commission’s reform package also proposes establishing a Pan-European Market Operator status, which would allow operators to manage multiple EU trading venues without obtaining separate national licenses.
Additional elements of the proposal include harmonising financial services rules across the EU and amending the Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) and the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) to reduce duplication and operational fragmentation.
Digital Ledger Technology Reforms
The package also includes updates to the EU’s Digital Ledger Technology (DLT) framework, aimed at encouraging innovation through simplified authorisation for smaller DLT operators and streamlined cross-border operations for investment funds.
EU governments aim to reach a joint position on the Commission’s proposals by mid-year, after which negotiations with the European Parliament could take an additional six to twelve months.
