In some, the issue is whether a firm can fund itself in a distressed situation. For example, a broker-dealer that relies heavily on short-term wholesale funding may find its funding evaporating at the first sign of trouble – a situation that could force the sale of assets at fire sale prices.
One way to mitigate such problems is by having direct restrictions on the structure of liabilities, such as on their duration or on the use of wholesale funding. Analogously with banks, one could also imagine requiring some nonbanks to maintain buffers of highly liquid assets that are sized according to the risk that their liabilities will run off quickly in a stress situation.