The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on Thursday fined Fitch Ratings €1.38 million (US$1.52 million) for alleged breaches of the rules governing credit rating agencies.
ESMA says that it found that “certain senior analysts in Fitch transmitted information about upcoming rating actions on sovereign ratings” to senior people in one of its parent companies before the ratings actions were made public.
The regulator also found that Fitch didn’t have proper internal controls in place to ensure it provided a rated entity with the minimum time period to consider and respond to a rating action before making it public.
In particular, ESMA says that, in 2012, Fitch didn’t give Slovenia 12 hours (the minimum required at the time) to respond to a pending downgrade of its sovereign rating.
ESMA notes that Fitch took voluntary measures to prevent similar issues in the future, and that it took this mitigating action into account when determining the fine.
Fitch may appeal the regulator’s decision to the board of appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities.