Mortgage-backed Securities, Financial Crisis | featured news

Ratings firms won another victory against legal claims that they should be held responsible for billions of dollars in losses suffered by investors during the financial crisis. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that Moody's Corp., Standard & Poor's, and Fitch Ratings can't be held liable for their ratings of mortgage-backed securities.

The government panel, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission blames: Banks that made reckless bets, credit rating agencies that endorse risky mortgage-backed securities and government regulators who overlooked warning signs until they threatened the global financial system.