The U.S. uses this from time to time where there is an institution that they think has some value to it but they don't have a buyer on the ready, and yet they think that over time they could maintain enough value in it that it could be sold back into the market. The option would be to just close down the institution, pay out the insured depositors, and let the institution go into liquidation. That may be destabilizing event, depending on what's happening in the rest of the market.
On May 4th, 2010. See this statement in context.