Only a few years ago, it was difficult to imagine that the world's biggest banks would be sitting on a mountain of toxic assets. According to the credit ratings agencies Standard&Poor's, Moody's and Fitch, these investments carried little risk.That misjudgment triggered the financial crisis, the costs of which are still being counted around the globe. Now the agencies are vying to restore their tattered reputations. But there are still losers. Greece has been rated as the world's least credit-worthy country, Portuguese government bonds have been downgraded to junk status. This prohibitively increases the cost of borrowing for both countries, with drastic results for their citizens. MADE IN GERMANY reporter Kerstin Schweizer examines how the power of ratings agencies can be limited.