Big Three rating agencies continue to dominate in Europe

LONDON (Reuters) - European Union attempts to inject more competition into credit ratings still have a long way to go as the bloc's latest market share figures confirm the growing dominance of the "Big Three" agencies.

Standard & Poor's (MHFI.N) has a market share of 40.42 percent in the 28-country bloc, followed by Moody's Group (MCO.N), with 34.67 percent. Fitch (LBCP.PA) is third, with 16.8 percent, figures from the EU's European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) showed on Friday.

Combined, the Big Three make up 92 percent of the market, with the nearest rival, DBRS Ratings Limited, with 1.47 percent market share.

A year ago, the Big Three had a market share of around 90 percent.

ESMA is the regulator for ratings agencies in the EU and it is required to calculate market shares on a regular basis to see if the objectives of the bloc's rules dating back to 2009 to stimulate competition are being met.

Under the rules, where an issuer intends to use two or more agencies, they should consider using one with less than a 10 percent market share or explain why not.

Policymaker hopes for a European ratings agency with a large market share have been continually dashed despite three sets of EU regulation in the sector since the 2007-09 financial crisis.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Mark Potter)