Here in America that certification is done by "the market" (S&P and Moody's). They gave the CDOs AAA ratings. Of course the fact that they were paid by the same companies that were submitting the CDOs didn't effect their judgement whatsoever. Except they found the emails where they said "go easy on these guys otherwise we lose their business". Oh you mean they made the ratings up? Yea. But that's legal, since the ratings came with no guarantees. They are the "free speech" like poetry. Welcome to America. Sucker.