US Treasury unveils toxic asset plan

View an online version of this email here.  All times are London time: Monday Mar 23 2009 Breaking news US Treasury unveils toxic asset plan The US Treasury unveiled a $1,000bn plan on Monday to relieve banks of the toxic assets plaguing their balance sheets in hopes of restoring stability and confidence in the stricken financial sector. The Treasury will put $75bn to $100bn of the $700bn troubled asset relief funds into a public private investment programme. The Tarp funds will be used as government equity and partnered with private funds to purchase troubled loans or securities. That public and private equity would be leveraged by debt from the FDIC, in the case of loan purchases, and the Fed Reserve's Talf programme, in the case of securities. US bank shares were lifted in pre-market trading as details of the plan were released, with Citigroup surging by 20 per cent and Bank of America gaining 17 per cent. Global markets were also upbeat, with Asian stocks rising to a two-month high on Monday. Read more » ABOUT THIS EMAIL You have received this email because you have signed up for this briefing on FT.com Manage subscriptions | Unsubscribe | Change your email address Change whether you receive this email as HTML or plain text | Forward this email to a friend Privacy policy | Advertise | Contact © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2009. "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. The Financial Times Limited, registered in England and Wales number 227590. Registered office: Number One Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HL. VAT number GB 278 5371 21.