ECB's Noyer Slams Credit Ratings

European central bank policy maker Christian Noyer slashed credit rating firms on Tuesday over their role in European debt crisis.

European central bank policy maker Christian Noyer slashed credit rating firms on Tuesday over their role in European debt crisis, saying central banks were too dependent on their judgments.

Agencies have always proved themselves wrong when making judgments on sovereign-credit risk, Noyer told a bank conference in Korea, who is also governor of the Bank of France.

The agencies downgraded Ireland's sovereign ratings even though there had been no change in its credit-worthiness for three to nine months, he said.

"The rating agencies are not giving information to the markets but are taking information from the markets," he added, "For us, of course, it's an enormous problem because it always happens at just the wrong time."

The dependence on rating agencies is "absolutely unsatisfactory," he said, calling for research on how reduce the dependence.

Credit ratings of Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain have been slashed by agencies over the past months due to concerns over their debt levels.