The concept of "too big to fail" refers to financial institutions, particularly massive systemically important commercial and investment banks, whose failure or insolvency would trigger a catastrophic domino effect throughout the broader domestic and global financial system, crippling credit markets and destabilizing the entire economy. Due to this extreme systemic interconnectedness, governments and central banks have historically felt compelled to intervene with emergency liquidity injections, capital bailouts, or orchestrated rescues during severe financial crises to prevent total institutional collapse. In the wake of major global financial turmoil, regulatory frameworks such as the Dodd-Frank Act in the United States and international Basel accords were enacted to subject these mega-banks to stringent capital adequacy requirements, rigorous annual stress testing, and living-will recovery plans to mitigate moral hazard and reduce the likelihood of taxpayer-funded bailouts.