Role of rating agencies over hyped, says S&P

Ratings agencies are given too much importance, one of the top firms, Standard & Poor's Corp, says, despite its own US rating downgrade having sparked untold turmoil on global markets.

Ratings agencies are given too much importance, one of the top firms, Standard & Poor's Corp, says, despite its own US rating downgrade having sparked untold turmoil on global markets.

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"Everyone seems to have just discovered we exist but we have been rating businesses and countries for decades," said Carol Sirou of S&P France in remarks to the Liberation daily on Monday.

"The role ascribed to us is much greater than is really the case," Sirou said. "The market is making us play a role that is not ours to play," she added, saying that current market nervousness "is due more to an economic slowdown than the ratings agencies."

S&P on Friday cut the US debt rating to AA+ with a negative outlook from the top notch triple A for the first time ever, sparking heavy losses on markets already worried about slowing growth and the eurozone debt crisis.