ESMA counts more than 950 sanctions and almost €82 million in fines across the EEA

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its third report on the sanctions and measures that national regulators across the European Economic Area (EEA) imposed in 2025. It shows more than 950 administrative sanctions and measures and administrative fines worth almost €82 million, and ESMA says enforcement still differs too much from one country to the next.

The numbers

The report covers sanctions and measures imposed under the EU laws within ESMA’s remit. In 2025, national authorities across the EEA imposed more than 950 administrative sanctions and measures, a number ESMA describes as stable compared with the previous two years. Administrative fines added up to almost €82 million, and the report notes an increased use of settlements.

As in earlier years, most activity concerned breaches of the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and of MiFID II and MiFIR, the rules that govern investment firms and trading venues.

Enforcement was concentrated in a few places: Germany, France and Spain accounted for two thirds of the total value of administrative fines across the EEA.

A call for convergence

ESMA found significant differences between countries in the number and type of sanctions, the size of fines and the use of settlements. It says the findings point to a need for stronger convergence, particularly where limited enforcement activity cannot be explained by the size of a country’s market. It adds that supervisory effectiveness should not be judged only by the number or value of sanctions, but that enforcement remains an important part of the supervisory toolkit.

What it means for traders and brokers

The report shows that the number of sanctions, the size of fines and the use of settlements still vary between member states, and that most enforcement concerns the market abuse and MiFID rules that apply to brokers, trading venues and their clients. Traders can see which national authority supervises a broker and check its licence directly with that regulator; our guide to checking a broker licence shows how.

What happens next

ESMA says it will keep encouraging national authorities to exchange views on applying capital markets rules consistently, including through case discussions, so that similar breaches lead to similar outcomes wherever in the EU they happen. The underlying data are published in Excel format alongside the report.