The European Single Access Point (ESAP), the central portal for corporate data now under development, risks significant shortcomings and delays, according to the Society of Investment Professionals in Germany (DVFA) capital markets experts Thorsten Müller and Bodo Kesselmeyer. „We are weakening the system if we allow such basic mistakes“, DVFA chairman Müller tells Börsen-Zeitung. „The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) should revise the ESAP system from a technical perspective.“

The European Single Access Point is the EU’s planned access portal, to be operated by ESMA. Starting in July 2027, it is to provide centralised access to a wide range of data and key figures on companies and other issuers. The information made available through ESAP will be phased in over four years. The aim is to give capital markets participants greater transparency on listed companies.

Kesselmeyer, deputy head and digitalization expert on DVFA’s corporate analysis commission, spells out the association’s concerns. „We need a software interface that checks the technical validity of the data and is applied uniformly across all 27 EU member states“, he says. Such formal technical tests should verify whether the information is complete and mathematically correct, whether assets correspond to liabilities, whether decimals, signs and units are consistent, and so forth. The software „is no substitute for an auditor“, Kesselmeyer stresses, but it would enforce the technical validity of the information submitted.

Data quality checks currently vary widely across the EU. Unlike the US, the EU has refrained from creating a single central repository, Kesselmeyer notes, instead leaving this with the member states. „That in itself is fine“, he states. „But the EU then needs to ensure that a minimum level of data quality is technically enforced, and create the necessary legal foundations. Both are lacking.“

Companies will continue to file their information with their respective national body, the so-called Officially Appointed Mechanism (OAM). In Germany, for example, the Bundesanzeiger serves as the national data hub. These national offices will then forward the data to ESAP after conducting their checks. The transmission is supposed to take 60 minutes, Kesselmeyer reports – and emphasises that "sixty minutes is not acceptable for the capital markets.“ On that basis, ESAP would struggle to win market acceptance. „Since the plan is for almost all capital markets-relevant data to be fed into ESAP over time, the transmission must be accelerated and aligned with international standards of market communication.“

DVFA chairman Müller underlines the importance of ESAP. „We see this central European access point for corporate data as the heart of the Capital Markets Union“, he says. Efficient capital allocation is only possible with transparency and a reliable data base. „High-quality data are also crucial for AI applications – which is very much in the interest of capital markets-oriented companies.“

Calls for Europe to strengthen its resilience and reduce dependence on the United States are justified, Müller adds. Yet almost all capital markets data comes from the big US providers – including Bloomberg, S&P, MSCI and Morningstar. The only exception is Refinitiv, which is part of London Stock Exchange Group.

The US providers tend to focus their data coverage on blue chips. Europe’s new portal should therefore be seized as an opportunity to broaden coverage, particularly to include mid-sized companies with capital markets orientation.

Currently, if small- and mid-cap listed firms are covered at all, it is often with a time lag, less detail and not on an „as reported“ basis, Kesselmeyer explains. That often leaves key information missing for company analysis. „This increases the cost of information and lowers the attractiveness of these companies for professional investors“, he explains.

His colleague Müller sums up DVFA’s stance in broader terms: „It is not enough to talk in general strategic terms about the benefits of a Savings and Investment Union (SIU). One also has to be willing to get into the engine room and implement the SIU with operational care and quality assurance.“