Under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the Federal Insurance Deposit Corp. can dismantle a firm if it can’t pass through bankruptcy without posing a significant threat to the financial system. Regulators are prepared to do so, Bloomberg explained.

A U.S. plan for seizing and liquidating a major bank would work if necessary, although it would be messy, according to Art Murton, a senior Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. official in charge of planning how to dismantle complex firms, and Bank of England Deputy Governor Paul Tucker. They spoke yesterday at an Institute of International Finance event in Washington.

“I think U.S. authorities could do it today — and I mean today,” said Tucker, who has worked with U.S. regulators on cross-border hurdles to taking down an international firm. “A global financial system will not survive if we don’t crack this problem.”