How to best manage the failure of systemically important financial firms was the theme of a recent conference at which the latest research on the issue was presented. Here we summarize that research, the discussions that it sparked, and the areas where considerable work remains.

There is disagreement about whether large and complex financial institutions should be allowed to use U.S. bankruptcy law to reorganize when they get into financial difficulty. We look at the Lehman example for lessons about whether bankruptcy law might be a better alternative to bailouts or to...

Everyone recognizes the need to have a credible resolution regime in place for financial companies whose failure could harm the entire financial system, but people disagree about which regime is best. The emergence of the parallel banking system has led policymakers to reconsider the dividing...

One of the reforms proposed for preventing financial crises is to require financial institutions to hold more capital. There are a number of unresolved issues related to such a requirement, ranging from the costs of increased capital requirements to the best way to structure them. Some of this...

A presentation of some of the options for recapitalizing the Savings Association Insurance Fund, with particular emphasis on merging it into the FDIC's Bank Insurance Fund.

An outline of three possible options for capitalizing the Savings Association Insurance Fund, which is in danger of suffering a huge premium disadvantage compared to banks insured by the Bank Insurance Fund, and a recommendation that any solution should first consider the policy objectives for...

This Commentary seeks to shed light on the issue of deposit insurance coverage by examining who would benefit from increases in the insured-deposit limit.

One type of financial reform being proposed to deal with the aftermath of the housing crisis is allowing bankruptcy judges the authority to modify residential mortgages in a way referred to as a stripdown. The reform is seen by some as a partial solution to the rise in foreclosures and as a...

One of the changes introduced by the sweeping new financial market legislation of the Dodd–Frank Act is the provision of a formal process for liquidating large financial firms—something that would have been useful in 2008, when troubles at Lehman Brothers, AIG, and Merrill Lynch threatened...

An examination of the continuing strength of the loan sales market, documenting its growth during the latter half of the 1980s, its subsequent downturn in the early 1990s, the effect of merger and acquisition activity, and the impact of the 1990-91 recession, plus a discussion of how these...