The European Union's markets regulator has fined ratings agency Fitch Ratings a record €5.13m (£4.4m) for breaching rules around avoiding conflicts of interest.
According to Reuters, ESMA said the breach took place between June 2013 and April 2018, when 20% of the ratings agency's subsidiaries in the UK, France and Spain were indirectly owned by the same individual through a France-based entity. At the same time, this unnamed shareholder was also sitting on the boards of three entities being rated by these Fitch subsidiaries, according to ESMA. The ratings agency said none of these breaches impacted the outcome of the ratings and believes it acted in good faith when interpreting EU laws on disclosing the indentity of shareholders. Fitch Ra...
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