In the US a lot of the sub-prime was fueled by frantic efforts to keep the bubble inflating by bringing in less and less qualified borrowers.  The majority of the players profited from fees.  Then they "securitized" the mortgages by putting some "sub-prime," some"Alt.A 'liar loans or NINJAs' (No Income, No Job or Assets!)" and some traditional loans all in a package.  The sales pitch was much the same as it had been for Junk Bonds: put different asset classes with different yields and risks into a single package to get higher overall yield with some increase in risk.  Too bad they didn't look at what happened to junk bonds under Michael Milken and Drexel.

 

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."