Sep 14, 2008 9:52 pm US/Pacific
Fed Moves To Deal With Financial Crisis
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
Win McNamee/Getty Images
The Federal Reserve announced late Sunday several steps to cope with the worst credit crisis in decades, including broadening the types of assets that investment banks can put up to get emergency loans from the Fed.
The action came as U.S. and foreign commercial banks were hashing out a plan to inoculate the global financial system against the possible failure of Lehman Brothers.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced the actions in a statement, saying they were being taken after a weekend of discussions with officials from the Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission and top executives of financial firms.
Those talks were aimed at seeing whether another financial institution would be willing to take over venerable investment bank Lehman Brothers and failing that, how other institutions could pool resources to protect the global financial system.
Bernanke said the discussions had been aimed at identifying "potential market vulnerabilities in the wake of an unwinding of a major financial institution and to consider appropriate official sector and private sector responses."
"The steps we are announcing today, along with significant commitments from the private sector, are intended to mitigate the potential risks and disruptions to markets," Bernanke said.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Timeline: U.S. Credit Crunch & Financial Failures
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