But if lender of last resort in a broader sense means that draining liquidity and offering generous or even unlimited credit lines should be regarded as main response and that the international community should place its highest priority on such measures, I would be strongly opposed. A lender of last resort of that kind may be of intellectual interest for academic textbooks.
In establishing requirements for firm (though not supervisory) stress testing and risk-management committees for all bank holding companies in this group, but mandating that only bank holding companies of $ billion or more be subject to enhanced prudential standards, Congress has reflected a similar judgment. The key question is whether $ billion is the right line to have drawn.