TIMELINE: Financial crisis since October

Sun Nov 16, 2008 5:28am EST
 
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(Reuters) - Here is a chronology of the global financial crisis since October:

October 2 - Irish lawmakers vote to enact legislation guaranteeing Irish bank deposits and debts up to a total of 400 billion euros ($554 billion).

October 3 - The House of Representatives passes a revised $700 billion U.S. bailout plan which will take toxic mortgage assets off financial companies.

-- Wells Fargo & Co says it has agreed to buy Wachovia Corp for about $16 billion, thwarting a planned Citigroup Inc deal announced on September 29. However, Citigroup wins a court order on October 4 blocking the deal until the court rules otherwise. The two remain locked in an intense battle.

October 5 - Germany pledges to guarantee private deposit accounts. Germany also clinches a revised rescue deal for lender Hypo Real Estate after banks and insurers pulled out of a state-led 35 billion euros ($48.5 billion) rescue programme.

October 8 - The Fed leads a coordinated, global round of emergency interest rate cuts.

October 9 - Iceland, whose prime minister warned of "national bankruptcy," takes control of its biggest bank, Kaupthing, the third major Icelandic bank to be taken over by the state.

October 10 - Japan's Nikkei tumbles nearly 10 percent, registering its biggest one-day drop since 1987.

-- Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven meet in Washington and pledge to prevent big banks from collapse and to work together to stem the crisis. The International Monetary Fund backs the G7 plan the next day.

October 12 - European leaders meeting in Paris rush out plans to help banks through the crisis.

October 13 - Britain wades in with 37 billion pounds ($64 billion) of taxpayers' cash for three major banks -- Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB to help them survive.

October 14 - Japan joins the global push, saying it could inject public funds into regional banks. The Nikkei surges more than 14 percent -- the biggest one-day gain in its history.

-- Iceland's stock market plunges 76 percent as it resumes trading.

-- The U.S. offers to take $250 billion worth of stakes in nine top banks. Paulson says government part-ownership of banks was "objectionable" but vital to tackle the crisis.

October 16 - UBS AG is to get a 6 billion Swiss franc ($5.30 billion) injection from the state in return for a 9.3 percent shareholding. Switzerland's other major bank, Credit Suisse Group, says it will raise 10 billion from outside investors to insulate themselves from the crisis.

October 18 - U.S. President George W. Bush meets with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. They agree to hold global summits on the crisis.  Continued...

 

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