In my article SPOE + TLAC = More Bailouts for Wall Street, which was recently published in the Banking & Financial Services Policy Report, I discuss a new strategy that the Federal Reserve Board (Fed) has proposed for dealing with failures of global systemically important banks (G-SIBs). My article points out a number of serious shortcomings in the Fed’s proposal and argues that significant reforms must be made before the plan is implemented.
A primary goal of the Dodd-Frank Act is to end “too big to fail” (TBTF) bailouts for systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) and their creditors. Title II of Dodd-Frank establishes the Orderly Liquidation Authority (OLA), which empowers the Secretary of the Treasury to appoint the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver for failed SIFIs. Title II requires the FDIC to liquidate failed SIFIs and to impose any resulting losses on their shareholders and creditors. Title II establishes a liquidation-only mandate because Congress did not want a failed megabank to emerge from an OLA receivership as a “rehabilitated” SIFI.