U.S. regulators approved two sets of guidelines that the nation’s largest banks, including  Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., will have to follow in drafting plans to protect the broader economy in the event of their own collapse, Bloomberg reported.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) board voted unanimously Tuesday to release a joint final rule laying out what the largest and most complex financial firms must include in so-called living wills they’re required to file. The panel also approved contingency planning guidelines for insured banks.

“The approval of these two rules marks an important turning point in the FDIC’s implementation of its systemic resolution responsibilities under the Dodd-Frank Act,” acting chairman Martin J. Gruenberg said before the votes at an FDIC meeting in Washington, D.C. The Federal Reserve is still required to approve the living-wills rule before it can become final.

Congress, in the Dodd-Frank Wall Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, expanded regulators’ authority to seize and unwind lenders in response to the market tumult that followed the September 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. The new rules are designed to eliminate the need for bailouts by giving the FDIC power to liquidate large firms whose failure could threaten the financial system.

“The events of 2008 clearly demonstrated that complacency regarding resolution planning is not a strategy,” James Wigand, the director of the FDIC’s Office of Complex Financial Institutions, said during the meeting.

Banks with at least $50 billion in assets will have to file plans, as will any firm designated as systemically important by the Financial Stability Oversight Council. Currently 37 banks are covered by the rule.