IslamicFinance.de

Ratings agencies in the European Union, which came under fire during the financial crisis for the verdicts they gave on sub-prime debt, still need to be better supervised, the bloc's auditor said on Monday. The European Court of Auditors said that the European Securities and Markets Authority's supervision of the agencies since 2011 was well established, but not fully effective. Cumbersome registration rules and central bank hurdles are making it harder for smaller credit ratings agencies to compete with the "Big Three" in the EU, the report concluded. Ratings agencies came under the gun during the 2007-09 financial crisis.