AN international accounting board has sharply criticized some European banks and financial firms for not taking sufficient writedowns on the Greek bonds they hold.

The International Accounting Standards Board said some firms only wrote down the value of their Greek bonds according to a restructuring suggested by the Greek government, which would see their value drop by about 21 percent.

However, if firms tried to sell those bonds on the open market now, they would get much less than that, IASB Chairman Hans Hoogervorst said in a letter to the European Union's market regulator, the European Securities and Markets Authority.

"This is a matter of great concern to us," Hoogervorst said in the August 4 letter, which was made public yesterday.

Source:shanghaidaily