Some are large, complex highly integrated global financial institutions with activities spanning a range of sectors. Others may have a global customer base but are simpler commercial banking operations. Yet a third category is entities that are large at a domestic or regional level but nonetheless globally interconnected through wholesale funding markets.
Whatever their nature, SIFIs have two things in common: that their uncontrolled failure would cause significant systemic disruption and that we, as authorities, cannot at present resolve  2  BIS Review 131/2010  them in an orderly fashion without use of public funds. The framework we have agreed to address SIFIs is therefore based on four necessary pillars.