ESMA to Make Tokenisation and AI a Supervisory Priority Across the EU From 2027

The European Securities and Markets Authority announced on Wednesday that tokenisation and artificial intelligence will become a common supervisory priority for national regulators across the bloc starting in 2027, adding a new layer of scrutiny to two technologies that are increasingly reshaping how financial products are built and sold.

Under the plan, national supervisory authorities will be tasked with mapping where tokenisation activity is developing within their markets and with examining how firms deploy both tokenisation and AI in products that directly affect investors. ESMA said the first reviews targeting firms with heavy exposure to these technologies have already been scheduled, well ahead of the formal 2027 start.

A central element of the exercise will be how companies communicate their use of these technologies to customers. ESMA said the goal of setting the priority now is to build regulatory expertise early and to allow for a coordinated approach across member states, rather than a patchwork of national responses to the same underlying trends.

Risks flagged by the regulator

An accompanying factsheet published by ESMA lists specific concerns that will guide the supervisory work. These include the risk that AI systems produce biased or misleading results, that tokenised or AI-driven financial products become too complex for investors to understand, and that firms grow overly dependent on a small number of external technology providers.

ESMA sets such supervisory priorities on a three-year cycle and allows a maximum of two to run concurrently. The tokenisation and AI priority will sit alongside an existing focus on cybersecurity and operational resilience, which began in 2025 and remains in force.

Infrastructure moves in parallel

The announcement follows closely on the launch of the European Central Bank's Pontes system on Monday, which allows commercial banks to settle tokenised securities directly in central bank money. Several German institutions are among the participants in the new system, marking one of the more concrete steps yet in linking tokenised asset markets to established central bank settlement infrastructure.

Together, the two developments point to a growing institutional footprint for tokenisation in Europe, with ESMA's supervisory priority signalling that regulators intend to keep pace with the technology's adoption rather than react to it after the fact.