Global financial system on brink of meltdown: IMF

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Concerns about the solvency of international banks has pushed the global financial system to the brink of a systemic meltdown, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Saturday.

Even with unprecedented actions, including a coordinated rate cut by major central banks, to stop the financial hemorrhaging in the U.S. and Europe, additional steps will likely be needed until markets were stabilized, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said.

"Looking ahead, financial conditions are expected to remain very difficult, restraining global growth prospects," Strauss-Kahn told the IMF's policy-steering committee, the International Monetary and Financial Committee.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)