Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis — and Themselves

by Andrew Ross Sorkin

Finally, the time came for the dreaded meeting with Moody’s. Steve Black from JP Morgan had come downtown to lend some credibility to the affair and to help answer questions about AIG’s plans to raise capital. It was one thing for Willumstad to state that he had every intention of raising capital and quite another entirely to have the president of JP Morgan affirm that he intended to support the company in that effort. The stakes were high: If the agency cut AIG’s credit rating by even one notch, it could trigger a collateral call of $10.5 billion. If Standard & Poor’s followed suit, which was likely—“the blind leading the blind,” Willumstad said of them—the figure would rise to $13.3 billion. Should that happen, and AIG be unable to come up with the extra capital, it would be a virtual death sentence.