mr president not so long ago voices were raised to say that rating agencies should not have downgraded greek and other bonds
look at what it has done to the euro they said
now i was going to say whether any more needed to be said to prove the huge conflict of interest that there would be if countries effectively rated their own debt
then this morning in the debate on statistics commissioner rehn said yesterday's downgrade by moody's was not conveniently timed and that that would influence commission thinking on credit rating agency regulation
i am sorry i do understand frustration but my thoughts were have you gone mad
i do not want ratings that are convenient whether that be convenient for investment banks or convenient for central banks
indeed ratings have been a bit too convenient for regulators to lean on too driving out proper due diligence
now a public agency for non-sovereign assets has some attractions but how do we get over the implied guarantee
how do we get over political interference if bank capital is at risk with the macro-economic consequences of that
we have some way to go in the search for capacity independence and integrity but of one thing i am sure and that is that corporate governance principles play a part be it in the public or private sector and that should apply to esma and the other esas too
