Europe's giant new financial services regulator the European Securities and Markets Authority, which came into being on January 1, has appointed its management board – but the seat at the top of that table remains very much up for grabs.

Esma is the new beefier version of the Committee of European Securities Regulators, which was brought into being by the European Commission last week and will take responsibility for overseeing the implementation of key pieces of regulation, including the European Market Infrastructure Legislation and the next version of Mifid.