Banks post 'living wills' showing how they would avoid U.S. bailout

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WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - More than 120 banks and other financial institutions on Friday posted plans for how they would wind down their operations if they fail without the help of public money.

U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . regulators will scour those "living wills" to make sure they are credible. Under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the federal government has the power to carve up a bank if regulators do not believe its plan is workable and in recent years they have faulted more than a dozen banks for drafting overly optimistic or not credible plans.

Regulators have not, however, begun the process of breaking up a bank.

General Electric Capital Corporation (NYSE: GEB - news) and insurers Prudential Financial (NYSE: PJH - news) and American International Group (NYSE: AIG - news) posted their plans, which were originally due July 1, along with other institutions with assets of less than $100 billion. The latter included as Ally Financial (NYSE: ALLY - news) , BB&T Corp and American Express (Swiss: AXP.SW - news) .

Several of the banks that published living wills on the Federal Reserve's website have more than $100 billion in assets, but less than $250 billion, including HSBC and RBS (LSE: RBS.L - news) .

(Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Dan Grebler)