Europe's top markets regulator has sharply criticised regulators in the UK, Germany and elsewhere over their application of regulations about short-selling, branding the situation "far from ideal", but national supervisors claim the review's findings are inaccurate.

The European Securities and Markets Authority carried out a peer review of the region's national regulators after the European Commission sent the watchdog a letter in July 2013 expressing its concern over inconsistencies in how the short-selling regulation, or SSR, was being applied.