Which banks hold the global financial system together?

This article is published in collaboration with Business Insider.

“Too big to fail” became a household phrase during the financial crisis, when bailouts in 2008-2009 provided a safety net for the crumbling global banking system.

As a response to the crisis, the G20 countries set up the Financial Stability Board, a global watchdog for financial institutions. One of its responsibilities is to identify the banks that can’t go bust without causing a domino effect.

The FSB calls such institutions global systemically important banks, or GSIBs, and on Tuesday it published a list of them.

The banks are split into buckets, with each corresponding to higher loss absorbency requirements based on how important to the global financial system the bank is. The higher the number, the more important the bank and the more capital it will be required to hold.

Here’s the full list:

Financial Stability Board

There’s only one change this year — the Spanish lender BBVA is out, and the China Construction Bank is in, reflecting the way that the world economy is changing.

Other than that, all the groups stay the same — bucket Nos. 2, 3, and 4 are still precisely where they were.

Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Mike Bird is a European markets editor.

Image: A man walks past buildings in a central business district.REUTERS/Nicky Loh.