WORLD> Europe
Key German bank rescued, Italy revives bailout talks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-06 10:37

BERLIN/WASHINGTON -- Germany offered a blanket bank deposit guarantee on Sunday in a bid to contain the spreading credit crisis as officials clinched deals to rescue Germany's Hypo Real Estate and recapitalize two other European banks.

A pedestrian passes the entrance to German lender Hypo Real Estate bank in Berlin in this September 30, 2008 file picture. Officials from the German government, central bank and financial regulator met on Sunday, October 5, in an effort to save lender Hypo Real Estate after a Berlin-brokered deal to rescue the imperilled bank unravelled. [Agencies]

From Iceland to Italy, officials scrambled to contain the fallout from the deepest financial crisis since the 1930s amid a continued debate about whether a fragmented European response could keep pace with a fear-driven market.

In a sign that the credit crunch is being felt in Asia, South Korea's finance minister said Korean banks were having trouble securing funds in foreign currencies and said the government would offer loans from its reserves.

On Saturday, leaders of Europe's four biggest economies -- Germany, France, Britain and Italy -- decided against a coordinated bank bailout, while vowing to stabilize markets.

But in what would mark a stunning reversal after just a day, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Sunday that Italy would revive the idea of a common bank bailout fund at a meeting of finance ministers on Monday.

Germany shot back that it remained opposed to any such shared bank rescue fund like the $700 billion bailout approved last week by the United States.

A French official said there was no fund proposal up for discussion.

Meanwhile, Germany said it would guarantee deposits in German banks to protect savers. Austria and Denmark quickly followed suit with the same kind of blanket guarantee first offered by Ireland last week.

"We say to savers that their deposits are safe," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a news conference in Berlin. "The federal government is also committed to that."

The pledge came as German officials clinched a renewed rescue deal for lender Hypo Real Estate, Belgium and Luxembourg found a buyer for troubled financial group Fortis in BNP Paribas, and UniCredit, Italy's second-biggest bank, announced plans to raise new capital.

In New York, Citigroup Inc won a court order blocking rival Wells Fargo & Co from moving ahead with its acquisition of hobbled US bank Wachovia Corp in a contested deal that also grew out of the credit crisis.

But Wachovia insisted its agreement with Wells Fargo was valid and vowed to pursue the union.

Meanwhile, expectations are building that finance leaders from the Group of Seven scheduled for this week in Washington could set the stage for coordinated rate cuts.

The United States last week approved a $700 billion fund authorizing the US Treasury to begin buying up bad debt from banks. But questions abound about how successful that will be in unblocking credit markets as the economy slips into a deeper downturn.

US stocks are expected to remain under pressure after the sharpest single-week decline in seven years with loan markets still extremely tight.

US stock index futures dropped in early Asian trade and oil prices dropped more than 2 percent, both in reaction to slowing growth.

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