Hypo Real Estate? Commerzbank? Both banking giants are system-relevant banks that can't fail without undermining financial markets at large. Citibank,insurer AIG and countless other companies are also system-relevant enterprises. Too big to fail -- as financial institutions grew bigger and less transparent,they paved the way for the economic crisis in the autumn of 2008,the most severe international downturn since the Great Depression. But as the crisis continued,the trend toward consolidation accelerated. Have banks been given carte blanche to continue on their current course?
