The European Commission has accused credit-rating agency Standard & Poor's of unfair pricing when charging licensing fees for issuing International Securities Identification Numbers, or ID codes for securities.

"The Commission's preliminary conclusion is that S&P is abusing this monopoly position by enforcing the payment of license fees for the use of U.S. International Securities Identification Numbers," a statement from the European Union executive said on Thursday.

The Commission said S&P [ MHP 33.65  -0.57 (-1.67%) ] was the only issuer of the numbers — used to identify securities — in the United States.

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