The systemic importance of financial institutions

Prudential tools that target financial stability need to be calibrated at the level of the financial system but implemented at the level of each regulated institution. They require a methodology for the allocation of system-wide risk to the individual institution in line with its systemic importance. This article proposes a general and flexible allocation methodology and uses it to identify and quantify the drivers of systemic importance. It then illustrates how the methodology could be employed in practice, based on a sample of large internationally active institutions.