WASHINGTON – Five of the biggest U.S. banks have six months to get their disaster plans in shape. That’s the message regulators issued Wednesday after giving the banks failing grades for the strategies they would deploy if they tumbled into bankruptcy.

JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Bank of New York Mellon and State Street Bank were cited by the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for “living wills” that are “not credible” or insufficient for an orderly restructuring if needed. The banks were required to submit the plans outlining how they would reshape themselves in the event of failure.

The government exercise is aimed at avoiding a repeat of the taxpayer bailouts of “too-big-to-fail” banks during the 2008 financial crisis. Having to salt away bigger capital reserves against unforeseen losses could eventually cut into banks’ profitability. They might try to compensate by pinching consumers with higher fees for services.

But for now, the regulators’ thumbs-down represents merely a ripple for a mostly robust U.S. banking industry. They wouldn’t face any government sanctions, such as new capital-building mandates or forced sales of assets, for at least six months.

The five banks, with a total of about $5.6 trillion in assets, were among eight Wall Street behemoths whose plans were evaluated. The other three banks – Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley – got less-than-glowing reports from the regulators, though not as severe.

The big banks have been working on their plans for four years. The regulators already put them on notice in mid-2014 that they had to correct serious deficiencies.

The regulators gave them an Oct. 1 deadline to fix the problems or face possible “more stringent” requirements. That could include ordering the banks to beef up their capital cushions against unforeseen losses. If the regulators still weren’t satisfied, banks eventually could be forced to sell off assets – but not before two years.

That helps explain why Wall Street seemed unruffled by news of the regulators’ action, and stocks of major banks rose in U.S. trading after the announcement by the agencies. They closed moderately higher. JPMorgan gained 4.5 percent to finish at $61.94. Bank of America picked up 3.7 percent to $13.76.

Investors view the banks’ shortcomings in their “living wills” mainly as a housekeeping problem rather than a sign of fundamental financial weakness.