Regulating Systemically Important Financial Institutions That Are Not Banks

Douglas J. Elliott: “Certain financial institutions are so central to the American financial system that their failure could cause traumatic damage, both to financial markets and the larger economy. These institutions are often referred to as “systemically important financial institutions” or SIFIs. The Dodd-Frank Act, the comprehensive reform legislation signed into law during the summer of 2010, requires financial regulators belonging to the Financial Stability Oversight Council  (FSOC) to name those financial institutions that it believes are systemically important. Such SIFIs are to be supervised more closely and potentially required to operate with greater safety margins, such as higher levels of capital, and to face further limitations on their activities.”

See also: Douglas J. Elliott, The Fed Will Soon Be Regulating Some Major Life Insurers