What did Moody’s do wrong, if anything?
Legally, as was previously stated, Moody’s committed no crime or infraction, yet one cannot overlook a somewhat lax stance in regards to its’ ratings on residential mortgage backed securities. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Moody’s, Raymond McDaniel, testified before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission that while Moody’s did observe a trend in the declining quality of mortgage-backed securities as early as 2003, that it is not the role of Moody’s nor any other credit rating agency to serve as the “gate-keeper” of the securities market and that their ratings are merely opinions, not definitive advice or recommendation on the stability or substantiality of a particular financial instrument.