On September 13, 2011, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation approved a final rule implementing Section 165(d) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 2010 which requires large and systemically important financial institutions to develop and maintain resolution plans, often referred to as “living wills.” As approved, the rule requires bank holding companies with assets of $50 billion or more and all nonbank financial services companies designated as “Systemically Important Financial Institutions” to develop and maintain plans for their orderly resolution in the event they suffer financial distress or face failure. The rule now staggers the implementation by requiring only covered companies with $250 billion or more in nonbank assets to file their plan by July 1, 2012, with smaller institutions’ deadlines to follow. The rule also permits certain smaller covered companies that operate primarily through an insured depository institution to file a more limited “tailored” resolution plan. The rule eliminates the requirement that a covered company file an updated resolution plan following each material event and replaces it with a notice requirement. The rule also removes the credit exposure report component which will be covered by a separate rulemaking. Finally, the rule sets forth more detailed confidentiality provisions, and clarifies a number of additional provisions.