UK To Introduce Sweeping Bank Reforms

Britain's chancellor will offer sweeping new powers to that country's equivalent of the SEC to intervene in the event of a banking crisis. In an interview with the Financial Times, Alistair Darling presented a set of triggers that would allow the Financial Services Authority to step in and protect assets from a foundering bank like Northern Rock to avoid depositors panicking

Darling was forced to commit at least $50 billion of taxpayers' money to shore up Northern Rock after fallout from the collapse of the subprime market let to the first bank run in Britain in over a century. Since then the chancellor has struggled to rescue a badly performing business and restore public confidence. Darling's new scheme is comparable to measures already in place in the US. (More Alistair Darling stories.)