The determinants of systemic importance

This paper empirically analyses the determinants of banks’ systemic importance. With applying a novel measure on the systemic importance to US bank holding companies in 2000–2010, we show that size is an important determinant of systemic importance, but banks with size above a certain threshold have equal systemic importance. On top of size, engaging heavily in non-traditional banking activities, such as relying on money market fund and generating non-interest income, is also related to high systemic importance. Therefore, in addition to “Too big to fail”, systemically important financial institutions can also be identified by a “Too non-traditional to fail” principle.