Global Roundup of Financial Actions Taken

Following are the latest measures taken by governments to limit damage from the financial crisis:

AUSTRIA - Austria said on Wednesday it would give an unlimited guarantee on bank deposits of savers.

AUSTRALIA - The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) injected A$2.63 billion ($1.8 billion) into the banking system on Friday. The RBA provided banks with funding for up to a year on Thursday, extending the length of loans.

BRITAIN - Britain said on Wednesday it would make 50 billion pounds ($87 billion) of new capital immediately available to retail banks and would extend 250 billion pounds in guarantees to help them refinance senior debt. In unison with other major central banks, the Bank of England cut interest rates by half a percentage point. The unscheduled cut to 4.5 percent was the biggest for seven years.

BAHRAIN - Bahrain, which pegs its dinar to the dollar, lowered its key interest rates on Thursday, tracking cuts by central banks around the world seeking to mitigate a global financial crisis that has sent markets into turmoil.

BULGARIA - Bulgaria said it would raise the minimum bank deposit guarantee to 100,000 levs ($70,180), or 50,000 euros, from 40,000 levs.

CANADA - Canada's finance minister said Friday the government is buying up to $25 billion Canadian ($21 billion) in mortgages form the country's banks in an effort to maintain the availability of credit.

CYPRUS - Cyprus said on Wednesday it planned to raise its guarantee scheme for bank deposits to 100,000 euros ($136,300) from 20,000 euros.

EUROPEAN UNION - European Union finance ministers agreed to guarantee bank deposits of up to 50,000 euros ($67,930), compared with 20,000 euros under current rules.

FRANCE - France said it would set up a legal body so the state could intervene swiftly to acquire stakes in banks that ran into trouble in the financial crisis.

GREECE - Greece on Thursday introduced legislation in parliament to raise the guarantee on bank deposits to 100,000 euros ($136,900) for three years.

HONG KONG - Hong Kong trimmed its main interest rate on Thursday, effectively taking the total reduction this week to 150 basis points.

ICELAND - Iceland, the country worst affected by the crisis, took control of the its biggest bank Kaupthing, the third such takeover in a week, and suspended all share trading. (Click for more)

ITALY - Italy said it would deal with banks on a case-by-case basis and a package of measures the cabinet approved on Wednesday did not foresee a new bailout fund.

NETHERLANDS - The Dutch government said it would set aside 20 billion euros ($27.5 billion) of capital to protect the country's financial companies.

RUSSIA - Russia's lower house of parliament, the Duma, approved two anti-crisis packages worth a total of $86 billion. The packages made available $50 billion of state money to banks and companies who need to refinance foreign debt, and 950 billion roubles ($36.31 billion) to Russia's main banks in subordinated loans. Share trade was closed in Moscow as the market regulator tried to contain a sell-off on Russia's liquidity-deprived stock market. (For more, click here)

SOUTH KOREA - Finance minister Kang Man-soo planned to plead with U.S. bankers for extended credit lines to save the country's banks while the won currency swung wildly for a second day.South Korea cut interest rates on Thursday.

TAIWAN - State-run Bank of Taiwan said on Thursday it would cut its savings and deposit rates by 10 to 39 basis points after the central bank cut its benchmark discount rate to support economic growth during the global credit crisis.

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