Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor and largest shareholder in Moody's Corp, yesterday offered a qualified defence of rating agencies, saying they had made the same mistakes as other market players on US housing ahead of the financial crisis.
Mr Buffett, who refused to attend a hearing on the causes of the financial crisis until he was forced by a subpoena, appeared alongside Ray McDaniel, chief executive of Moody's.
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, chaired by former California state treasurer Phil Angelides, is probing how triple A credit ratings were assigned to structured credit products that proved to be riddled with bad loans.