A group of researchers at the Cleveland Fed have a new idea for how to deal with the so-called "too big to fail" institutions.  In language more suited to a Fed researcher, James Thomson--Vice President and Financial Economist at the Cleveland Fed--calls them "Systemically Important Financial Institutions," and he writes in a paper that the first step is better defining these institutions:

The purpose of creating a practical definition of systemic importance is to enable supervisors to discipline systemically important financial institutions. Understanding the nature and causes of systemic importance is the foundation for creating regulations, supervisory policies, and infrastructure that will rein in the associated systemic risk; in some cases, doing so sufficiently mitigates an institution’s potential systemic impact so that it would no longer be considered systemically important. Because any two firms could be deemed systemically important for unrelated reasons, a one-size-fits-all designation such as “too big to fail” is inadequate. Consequently, the approach taken here is to propose a means of classifying systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs).

And the economists at the Cleveland Fed tout a three-tiered approach to regulating SIFIs.  You can more about the approach here, and watch this helpful Drawing Board video:

(Hat tip to Caitlyn Kenney at Planet Money)