Raters, repositories must be hard Brexit-ready by year end - EU watchdog

LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Credit rating agencies and trade repositories licensed in the European Union must show by the end of this year they could cope with Britain crashing out of the bloc without a trading deal, the EU's markets watchdog said on Thursday.

The European Securities and Markets Authority, which is responsible for authorising all ratings agencies and trade respositories in the bloc, said its work on Brexit will be key this year.

"By the end of the year, all supervised entities should be ready if the UK leaves the EU under a cliff-edge scenario," ESMA said in a statement.

(Reporting by Huw Jones and Marc Jones, editing by Carolyn Cohn)