Breaking up big banks

The second part of the paper deals with the phenomenon known as “too big to jail” and examines banks' settlements. I compile a novel dataset on 341 litigation charges and settlements and find evidence that larger banks and banks with a higher credit risk, but not necessarily more systemically risky banks, face litigation charges more frequently. I do however observe that penalties had little effect on BHCs' profitability, and that some of the largest banks continuously faced litigation charges which may imply that benefits from wrongdoing outweighed the costs or that many large banks relied on the fact they will be considered immune from prosecution due to their sheer size and their influence on the economy.