Brussels, 10/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - European Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy will meet representatives of the European Securities Regulators Committee (ESRC), whose president is Eddy Wynmeersch, in Brussels in the late afternoon of Tuesday 11 September, his spokesman told EUROPE on Monday 10 September. This meeting, announced in mid-August, will be devoted to the role played by financial rating agencies in the crisis currently affecting the financial markets (see EUROPE 9483). In the European Parliament last week, Mr McCreevy expressed his concern at the possible “conflicts of interest” that could emerge from relations that these agencies have with their clients (see EUROPE 9485).
Financial rating agencies, with their considerable impact on markets, have been accused by some analysts of not having been sufficiently quick in alerting investors to the risks involved in some American establishments active in the high-risk sub-prime mortgage market, the sector where the crisis began. Their role consists of rating the financial health of listed companies through risks related to their liabilities, yet they are paid by these same companies, which wish to be rated. US regulators have also undertaken to review their role in the current financial crisis. (mb)