None of the sectors stress-tested by Credit Suisse had priced in a scenario of zero sales growth for two years to end-2012.

These loans have just been relabeled as "stress-tested," but that is the equivalent of putting a bill in the filing cabinet instead of paying it.

This central scenario would then be “stress-tested” to show that the CDO was robust—though oddly the tests did not include a 20% fall in house prices.