EBF - No merit of European public CRA

30 June 2008

The EBF doubts that formal regulation would have made a difference in the recent market events and recommends focusing more on the monitoring and implementation of the IOSCO Code of Conduct.

Commenting on the preliminary conclusions on Credit Rating Agencies the European Banking Federation doubts that formal regulation would have made a difference in the recent market events. The focus should lie on the significant changes to be made to the IOSCO Code of Conduct, and to consider ways of putting more emphasis on the due monitoring of the Code’s implementation by CRAs, EBF states.

 

With a view on the tightening of the regulation in the US additional regulation at EU level would not be likely to bring improvements to the ratings market, but would rather be harmful in requiring CRAs to comply with overlapping sets of regulation, EBF warns.

 

“We would also stress that we would not see any merit in the establishment a public European rating agency”, EBF points out. “Credit assessments from a public body would send the wrong signals to the market.”

© EBF