Abstract: The central problem for financial regulation is reducing systemic risk. Systemic risk is the risk that the failure of one significant institution can cause or significantly contribute to the failure of other significant institutions. This paper addresses the five most important policies for dealing with systemic risk: the imposition of capital requirements, the use of clearinghouses and exchanges for over-the-counter derivatives, the resolution of insolvent institutions, emergency lending by the Federal Reserve and the structure of the regulatory system. The author also argues that the Volcker Rules and related limitations on bank size would not reduce systemic risk.