Recital 24

(24)The objective of ensuring sufficient independence of credit rating agencies requires that investors not hold simultaneously investments of 5 % or more in more than one credit rating agency. Directive 2004/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004 on the harmonisation of transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market ¹⁰ provides that those persons controlling at least 5 % of the voting rights in a listed company disclose that fact to the public, because, inter alia, the investors have an interest in knowing about changes in the voting structure of such a company. The 5 % level is therefore considered to be a major holding capable of influencing the voting structure in a company. It is therefore appropriate to use the 5 % level for the purposes of restricting the simultaneous investment in more than one credit rating agency. The measure cannot be considered to be disproportionate, given that all registered credit rating agencies in the Union are non-listed undertakings and, therefore, not subject to the transparency and procedural rules that apply to listed companies in the Union in accordance with Directive 2004/109/EC. Often unlisted undertakings are governed by shareholders’ protocols or agreements and the number of shareholders or members is usually low. Therefore, even a minority position in an unlisted credit rating agency could be influential. Nevertheless, in order to ensure that purely economic investments in credit rating agencies are still possible, this limitation to simultaneous investments in more than one credit rating agency should not be extended to investments channelled through collective investment schemes managed by third parties independent from the investor and not subject to the investor’s influence.