The European Securities and Markets Authority has published its third consolidated report on sanctions imposed by national authorities in the EEA during 2025. More than 950 administrative sanctions and measures were imposed, a figure stable compared with the previous two years, and fines totalled almost €82 million. Most cases concerned breaches of the Market Abuse Regulation and the MiFID framework. Germany, France and Spain accounted for two thirds of the total value of fines.

What it means: The report confirms that the same European rules are enforced very differently from country to country. ESMA notes that low enforcement activity in some member states cannot always be explained by the size of their market and calls for more convergence, so that a similar breach leads to a similar outcome anywhere in the EU. For Greece, where the supervisor is the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, pressure for convergence means national practice will increasingly be benchmarked against European peers. Listed companies, investment firms and fund managers should assume oversight will tighten, particularly on market abuse topics such as handling inside information and keeping insider lists. The greater use of settlement procedures noted in the report shows authorities prefer faster outcomes, but that does not make compliance any less important. ESMA says it will keep organising exchanges between national authorities, including discussions of specific cases. For Greek businesses, the practical priority is documentation: clear procedures, staff training and records that show the rules are applied in practice. Compliance officers can use the published Excel data to compare how often each authority fines firms for the breaches most relevant to their own business.

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