La Commission prendra des mesures strictes contre les agences de notation[en] 

"I am now convinced that limited but mandatory, well targeted and robust internal governance reforms are going to be imperative to complement stronger external oversight of rating agencies," McCreevy said during a financial services conference in Dublin on 16 June.

The commissioner announced therefore that he will propose "a regulatory solution at European level in coming months". The measures will hit credit rating agencies, such as Fitch, Moody's or Standard & Poor's, likely forcing them to significantly modify their internal governance in order to avoid conflicts of interest.

Credit rating agencies had been largely blamed for their role in the US subprime mortgage crisis that broke out last summer, notably due to their over-evaluation of borrowers' capacity to pay back their loans. They were also accused of potential conflicts of interest, because they are paid as consultants by the very banks whose debt they rate.

While he had earlier been cautious about imposing regulation on the sector, McCreevy now explicitly called for "sufficiently strong and robust firewalls" between those who are charged with raising earnings and those who carry out the actual rating process within the agencies - two roles that have so far been very interlinked.

In line with the incoming French Presidency's plans to start a debate on rating agencies, McCreevy wants to better address the shortfalls made clear by the US crisis. The turmoil obliged rating agencies to strongly downgrade 'triple A' bonds, despite their being deemed the most reliable.

Ongoing plans to change the way charges are imposed by rating agencies and a revised code of conduct proposed by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO ) are considered "insufficient" by McCreevy. 

The revised IOSCO code "has been shown to be a toothless wonder," he said. What's more, despite the current system of compliance checks, "no supervisor appears to have got as much as a sniff of the rot at the heart of the structured finance rating process before it all blew up," said the commissioner, using colourful language.

The objective of the expected new regulation will also be to allow new players, "working perhaps on a different business model," onto the credit-rating market, McCreevy told his Dublin audience.

A Moody's spokesman told Reuters on Monday: "Our Code of Conduct reflects our commitment to implementing guidelines established by both international and national regulatory organisations. Moody's will continue to be responsive to authorities, including the European Commission, as they consider oversight of our industry, either through legislation or voluntary measures," the spokesman added.

Allen Blewitt, the chief executive of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, said rating agencies "have for too long had the luxury of not having to adhere to good governance and oversight procedures".