The recent financial crisis teaches important lessons regarding the lender-of-last resort (LLR) function. Large swap lines extended in 2007-08 from the Federal Reserve to other central banks show that the classic concept of a national LLR fails to address key vulnerabilities in a globalized...

Banking systems have rapidly grown to a point where, for many countries, bank assets amount to multiples of GDP. As a consequence, governments' capacities to provide stability-enhancing fiscal guarantees against systemic crises can no longer be taken for granted. As regulation of dynamic...