IOSCO-Israel regulator cracks down on credit agencies

TEL AVIV, June 7 (Reuters) - Israel's securities regulator said on Sunday he plans to introduce a proposal within three months to hold credit rating agencies more accountable for their ratings.

Israel Securities Authority Chairman Zohar Goshen said there should be liability for rating agencies, which have been blamed for contributing to the financial crisis by assigning top ratings to mortgage securities that later dropped in value.

"Rating agencies are being considered as writing opinion," he told Reuters on the sidelines of an international securities conference in Tel Aviv. "That is like giving you advice about a movie. We believe it should be a little bit more than that because a lot of trust is given to the rating agencies," he said. (Reporting by Rachelle Younglai and Tova Cohen; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)