They are aimed in particular at investment firms and asset servicing firms as well as more generally to others in the financial industry.

The first hearing will concern markets issues, debating transparency, regulatory reporting, microstructural issues and organisational requirements for investment firms.

Access and post-trading issues, small and medium enterprise growth markets and commodity derivatives issues will also be discussed at the first hearing.

A wide range of investor protection issues will be discussed in the second hearing including inducements, product governance, product intervention and safeguarding assets.

The third hearing will centre on commodity derivatives, covering topics such as ancillatory activity, position limits, position reporting, financial instruments definition and position management powers of Esma.

Esma chair Steven Maijoor recently said the supervisory authority would extensively consult market participants and carefully consider their views. The hearings are open to the public and free of charge.