The International Organisation of Securities Commissions, an umbrella body for the world's securities regulators, has warned ratings agencies it plans to strengthen an existing code of conduct in a bid to enhance the integrity and independence of the ratings process after months of it being called into question.
Financial market regulators have been some of the fiercest critics of the ratings industry, with high-profile figures such as Michel Prada, France's chief securities official and chairman of IOSCO's technical committee, consistently rebuking them for their part in creating the securities responsible for over $150bn (â¬95bn) of losses due to the tumult largely caused by the sub-prime crisis.
