Financial Times, June 29th, 2009
Buried within the 88-page Obama administration proposal to overhaul financial regulation is an overlooked option called a “rapid resolution plan”. It mandates that systemically important financial companies be required regularly to file a “funeral plan”: a set of instructions for how the institution could be quickly dismantled should the need to do so arise. This simple step would have both short-run benefits if another wave of panic occurs and longer-term pay-offs that would complement other reform efforts.