Too Big to Fail: The Path to a Solution

If there is one thing that all sides of the “too-big-to-fail” debate can agree on, it is that reliving the financial crisis of 2008 without an effective means of resolving all financial institutions would be unacceptable. A central premise of this report is that the too-big-to-fail problem would be solved if all financial institutions, including systemically important ones (SIFIs), could be resolved, that is, recapitalized, sold or wound down without triggering the type of contagious panic that can severely destabilize or even result in a collapse of the financial system and without resorting to taxpayer-funded bailouts to prevent such a catastrophe.