British prime minister Gordon Brown expressed his hope this evening that a British-style bank bail-out can stem global financial turmoil.
"I am confident after talking to my European colleagues that more liquidity, funding for the medium term loans necessary for businesses and mortgages and the recapitalisation of banks are part of their thinking as well," he told journalists after a summit of leaders of the euro zone in Paris
"The difficulty that we have got at the moment is in restoring confidence in the banking system. What is missing is confidence itself. I believe that the action we have taken in Britain will restore that, and we will see over the next few days worldwide action that will also see confidence restored," he said.
In the US, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson cautioned that countries that turn to protectionist policies to try to escape damage from the global financial crisis may make it worse.
"Isolationism and protectionism will not offer a way out," Paulson said in a statement prepared for delivery to the World Bank's development committee.
"Although we in the United States are taking many extraordinary measures to ease the crisis, we are not pursuing policies that would limit the flows of goods, services or capital, as such measures would only intensify the risks of a prolonged crisis," he added.