To gain a truly “systemic” perspective on the financial system, no material element should be left out. This includes, notably, large and complex financial institutions.
The failure of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 and its consequences for the world financial system could not illustrate better how important the individual viability and the multiple connections to other intermediaries and markets of such large and complex institutions are for systemic stability and therefore for macro-prudential risk assessments and policies.