Orange County Register

Associated Press reports …

• Germany became the newest European country to allay fears about the financial meltdown, guaranteeing private bank accounts as governments scrambled on their own to save failing banks. Chancellor Angela Merkel said that no citizen should fear for the safety of their investments, speaking to reporters as her government held crisis talks on the collapse of a ballyhooed 35 billion euro ($48.4 billion) bailout of Hypo Real Estate AG, the country’s second-biggest property lender. German Finance Ministry spokesman Torsten Albig said the unlimited guarantee covered some 568 billion euros ($785 billion) in savings and checking accounts as well as time deposits, or CDs.
• In Iceland - particularly hard-hit by the credit crunch - government officials and banking chiefs were discussing a possible rescue plan for the country’s overstretched commercial banks. The government last week took over Iceland’s third-largest bank, Glitnir, a decision that prompted major credit ratings agencies to downgrade both Iceland’s four major banks and its government credit rating.
• Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme aims to find a new owner for troubled bank Fortis NV to restore confidence in the company before the opening of markets on Monday. Leterme told two media outlets that government officials were going over a takeover bid for Fortis’ Belgian operations. The bank’s Dutch operations were nationalized amid fears they could go insolvent.
• British treasury chief Alistair Darling said that he was ready to take “pretty big steps that we wouldn’t take in ordinary times” to help the country weather the credit crunch. In the past year the government has nationalized struggling mortgage lenders Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley.

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