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xii PREFACE

that were hard hit by the crisis. The Commission also drew from a large body of ex-
isting work about the crisis developed by congressional committees, government
agencies, academics, journalists, legal investigators, and many others.
We have tried in this report to explain in clear, understandable terms how our
complex financial system worked, how the pieces fit together, and how the crisis oc-
curred. Doing so required research into broad and sometimes arcane subjects, such
as mortgage lending and securitization, derivatives, corporate governance, and risk
management. To bring these subjects out of the realm of the abstract, we conducted
case study investigations of specific financial firms—and in many cases specific facets
of these institutions—that played pivotal roles. Those institutions included American
International Group (AIG), Bear Stearns, Citigroup, Countrywide Financial, Fannie
Mae, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Moody’s, and Wachovia. We
looked more generally at the roles and actions of scores of other companies.
We also studied relevant policies put in place by successive Congresses and ad-
ministrations. And importantly, we examined the roles of policy makers and regula-
tors, including at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Reserve
Board, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Department of Housing and Ur-
ban Development, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Fed-
eral Housing Enterprise Oversight (and its successor, the Federal Housing Finance
Agency), the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Securities and Exchange Commission,
and the Treasury Department.
Of course, there is much work the Commission did not undertake. Congress did
not ask the Commission to offer policy recommendations, but required it to delve
into what caused the crisis. In that sense, the Commission has functioned somewhat
like the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates aviation and other
transportation accidents so that knowledge of the probable causes can help avoid fu-
ture accidents. Nor were we tasked with evaluating the federal law (the Troubled As-
set Relief Program, known as TARP) that provided financial assistance to major
financial institutions. That duty was assigned to the Congressional Oversight Panel
and the Special Inspector General for TARP.
This report is not the sole repository of what the panel found. A website—
www.fcic.gov—will host a wealth of information beyond what could be presented here.
It will contain a stockpile of materials—including documents and emails, video of the
Commission’s public hearings, testimony, and supporting research—that can be stud-
ied for years to come. Much of what is footnoted in this report can be found on the
website. In addition, more materials that cannot be released yet for various reasons will
eventually be made public through the National Archives and Records Administration.
Our work reflects the extraordinary commitment and knowledge of the mem-
bers of the Commission who were accorded the honor of this public service. We also
benefited immensely from the perspectives shared with commissioners by thou-
sands of concerned Americans through their letters and emails. And we are grateful
to the hundreds of individuals and organizations that offered expertise, informa-
tion, and personal accounts in extensive interviews, testimony, and discussions with
the Commission.