Wall Street's most embarrassing emails
9. Down on the farm
Set-up
The folks at the credit rating agencies didn't exactly cover themselves in glory during the housing boom. To add to their roster of Wall Street customers, the top raters continued to stamp 'Approved' on all sorts of collateralized debt tied to home loans. Some of the largest CDOs were stuffed with incredibly risky mortgages — yet they got rated. Did the agencies know what was going on? You'll find a clue in this IM from an employee at S&P, who summed up the agricultural nature of the process.
Punch
'We rate every deal. It could be structured by cows.'
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