# ESMA Names AI, Tokenization a Supervisory Priority for 2027

By Riza Dagoc

Canonical URL: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/23761
Published: 2026-09-24T14:27:51.000Z
Updated: 2026-09-24T14:27:51.000Z

The European Securities and Markets Authority will have national regulators across the European Union examine financial firms’ use of artificial intelligence and tokenization from 2027, placing both technologies under one bloc-wide supervisory priority.

The initiative, called Innovation With Investor Safeguards, will cover products and processes that shape client outcomes. Regulators will identify where firms already use the technologies and where they plan to deploy them, while giving less emphasis to back-office applications.

National authorities will conduct initial reviews of a group of firms with significant exposure to AI or tokenization. They will also examine how tokenization is being applied and determine which staff capabilities and supervisory tools are needed to oversee it effectively.

The planned reviews will address risks such as biased, opaque or misleading AI results; products that investors may find difficult to understand; limited regulatory expertise; and dependence on a small group of outside technology providers. The supervisory program also recognizes possible gains from faster and less expensive processes, new products and more connected European markets.

The priority will run alongside ESMA’s cyber and operational resilience work, which began in 2025 under the Digital Operational Resilience Act. That program will broaden in 2027 to include smaller supervised firms and crypto-asset service providers authorized under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation.

The transition period for crypto firms under MiCA ended in July. The European Commission is weighing changes to the framework that could include tokenization.

The new program follows ESMA’s earlier move to make digital innovation a supervisory priority. Its initial focus on AI and tokenization gives national regulators a common framework for reviewing how emerging financial technologies affect investors and market operations.

## Links in this article

- [ESMA’s earlier move to make digital innovation a supervisory priority](https://www.tokenpost.com/news/regulation/23249)