The levels are: AAA, AA A BBB BB than others, but they are very ill Overall: A Bank or Big Box usually has a rating of AA A Bank or medium, a rating of A On March 3, 2008, Fitch has maintained the rating of the City of Barcelona in AA + rating agencies gave these ratings or were given other names, more sophisticated, but in the end, say the same thing: They called: Investment Grade MBS representing mortgage prime, that is those of least risk (be the AAA, AA and A) Mezzanine, the intermediate (I guess maybe the BBB and BB) Equity to poor, high risk, ie the subprime, that in this racket , are the protagonists Investment Banks placed easily the best (investment grade) to conservative investors, and low interest rates. Other fund managers, venture capital companies, etc, more aggressive. sought, at all costs, higher returns, among other reasons because these lords charge the year-end bonus depending on the profitability. Problem: How to sell MBS of bad managers latter without being noticed too that are incurring excessive risks? 6th Comment: The plot thickens and, of course, the Savings Bank of San Quirze continue making statements Expansion happy and content, discussing the proper functioning of the economy and social work they are doing. Some investment banks were able, from a re-rating agencies (a re-rating, a word that does not exist, but it serves to understand) The re-rating is an invention to raise the rating of bad MBS, which consists of: i. .