Wall Street and global financial regulators, trying to squash the lingering perception that banks remain "too big to fail," are looking to an obscure change in derivatives contracts to solve the problem.

The main industry group for the $700 trillion global swaps market is rewriting international protocols to impose a "stay" or pause designed to prevent trading partners from calling in collateral all at once when a bank nears failure.

U.S. and international banking regulators are considering making use of the new protocols mandatory, according to two people who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private meetings. The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) is aiming to release the revised contract guidelines by November, the people said.