The new, complex securities of "structured finance" used to finance subprime mortgages could not have been sold without ratings by the "Big Three" rating agencies — Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's, and Fitch Ratings.
Purchasing of subprime and alt-A mortgages expanded under the guidance of Raines's successor Daniel H. Mudd.
Examining examples of willful blindness in the Catholic Church, the SEC, Nazi Germany, Bernard Madoff’s investors, BP’s safety record, the military in Afghanistan and the dog-eat-dog world of subprime mortgage lenders, the book demonstrates how failing to see—or admit to ourselves or our colleagues—the issues and problems in plain sight can ruin private lives and bring down corporations.
In 2008, the bank sold its headquarters building near Hibiya Park and its operations center in Meguro in order to avoid falling below targets again due to investment writedowns during the subprime crisis in the United States.
Mr. Wilbur F. Breslin (The founder of Breslin Realty and former Hofstra Board member), the man responsible for some of Long Island's big commercial projects helped launch Hofstra University's Wilbur F. Breslin Center for Real Estate Studies, where industry professionals, government officials, the public and students can convene to tackle some of Long Island's biggest problems; Like sprawl, the subprime collapse, more respect for real estate professionals, etc.