Government Actions in the Global Financial Crisis

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Sept. 7: U.S. government seizes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Sept. 11: Governments in Thailand, India, South Korea and Pakistan try to bolster their currencies.

Sept. 14: The Federal Reserve expands the rules on what can be accepted as collateral.

Sept. 16: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is authorized to lend up to $85 billion to the big insurance company American International Group.

Sept. 18:-- The Fed expands its temporary swap lines with several overseas banks including the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank.

Sept. 19: The Fed extends non-recourse loans to U.S. depository institutions and bank holding companies -- a move meant to help liquidity in the markets.

· The Securities and Exchange Commission decides to temporarily halt short selling on the stocks of 799 financial companies.

Sept. 21: The Fed approves Goldman Sachs's and Morgan Stanley's transformations to bank holding companies.

· The SEC again revises rules to curb short-selling.

Sept. 24: The Fed -- along with banks in Australia, Denmark, Norway and Sweden -- establishes temporary swap lines to help address the pressures on short-term funding markets.

Sept. 29: The Fed increases the amount of swap authorization limits with banks in Canada, England, Japan and Denmark.

· The British government nationalizes troubled mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley.

· U.S. Treasury approves a temporary guarantee program for money market mutual funds.

Oct. 1: The U.S. Senate approves emergency legislation to temporarily increase FDIC deposit insurance limits to $250,000 per account and increase the FDIC's ability to borrow from the Treasury.

· Ireland guarantees the debt of some of its top financial institutions, and central banks in Asia inject cash into their banking systems. The Belgian, French and Luxembourg governments said they would put money into major lender Dexia.

· The SEC extends the ban on short selling.

· By the time Congress passes its bailout plan, governments in Belgium, Germany, Britain and Iceland bail out or nationalize five institutions because of exposure to distressed U.S. assets.

Oct. 3: U.S. House of Representatives passes emergency package to deal with the economic crisis. Under the legislation signed by President Bush, the U.S. Treasury can buy troubled assets and help raise capital.

· The Dutch government steps in to break and nationalize part of Fortis after previous attempts to stabilize the bank's business fail.

· Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska gives up part ownership in a Canadian auto parts maker as Russian stocks drop sharply, despite a nearly $200 billion Kremlin rescue package.

· The British government increases its deposit guarantee.

Oct. 4: The cost of insuring government debt soars in Iceland, days after the government pumps $827 million into Glitnir Bank, the country's third-largest bank.

Oct. 5: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg arrange the breakup and takeover of Fortis banking and insurance units.

· Germany guarantees all consumer bank deposits and arranges the bailout of Hypo Real Estate.

Oct. 6: The Fed says it will begin to pay interest on institutions' excess reserve balances. It also increases the size of Term Auction Facility auctions, which allow institutions to borrow from the Fed for a fixed term that is set at auction.

· In Brazil, the government says it will tap foreign reserves to finance exporters after the country's stock market plunges. In Russia and Brazil, stock exchanges are temporarily suspended. The Brazilian central bank also sells dollars from its foreign reserves on the domestic market to curb its depreciating currency.

-- Compiled by staff writer Dana Hedgpeth and

staff researcher Julie Tate.