Treasury welcomes European moves, pledges action

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury on Monday welcomed actions European authorities took to shield banks from turmoil and to guarantee bank lending, and pledged to act on its own steps to improve bank funding availability.

Clay Lowery, the Treasury's assistant secretary for international affairs, said the United States was committed to working with global partners and "take further action as needed to restore confidence in our markets."

"That is why the Treasury welcomes the initiatives taken by European nations as part of the Group of Seven action plan to strengthen their financial system and address funding issues for their financial institutions," Lowery said in prepared remarks to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank semi-annual meetings in Washington.

"We in the United States are also moving forward on actions under the G7 action plan announced Friday to improve availability of funding for our banks," Lowery said.

The Treasury and Fed could announce another round of actions to complement the European initiatives as early as Tuesday. A report on CNBC television said the U.S. announcement could include some form of interbank lending guarantee.

(Reporting by David Lawder, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)