Brown: Government Must be a Rock of Stability in Times of Financial Crisis

Oct. 13 - Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the government must be a rock of stability for British families during the credit crisis.

Britain waded in with 37 billion pounds (64 billion US dollars) of taxpayers' cash to bail out three major banks on Monday, in a move that could leave it as the main shareholder in at least two of them.

In return for the British government's money, the banks will be forced to curtail the bonuses that many believe encouraged a risk-taking culture that precipitated the global financial crisis. They will also have to scrap dividends.

Under the UK plan, the Royal Bank of Scotland will boost its capital by 20 billion pounds, issuing 15 billion pounds' worth of shares underwritten by the state, and 5 billion pounds in preference shares directly taken by the government.