BIS Review 130/2009  1  with the cheaper funds now available to them. If the risky projects pay off, the shareholders profit famously. If the results are bad, the government may keep the institution afloat, thereby preserving at least some value for shareholders.
The roots of the present crisis – and thus of the current form of the too-big-to-fail problems – reach much deeper than the breakdown of private risk management and shortcomings of government regulation during the first part of this decade.