Among this group of tightly regulated and closely supported entities, there could be no sudden and unforeseen failures. With that risk removed, it was significantly cheaper for such banks to issue shares and borrow money. One study estimated that in the wake of the crisis the advantage in funding costs enjoyed by the larger banks relative to their smaller peers had more than doubled, from 0.29 to 0.78 percent. For the largest eighteen US banks, this implied an annual subsidy of at least $34 billion.
