Thank you.
In 2002, DBRS, the bond rating service, published a positive assessment of non-bank-backed ABCP in the Canadian market. At the same time, Standard & Poor's, another rating agency, refused to rate them. They issued a document that explained exactly what their concerns were with the quality of the product. It was for exactly those reasons the product eventually failed.
So there was competing information available in the marketplace. It was not acted on, for an interesting set of reasons involving incentives on the part of buyers, distributors, and rating agencies as well.