Source: CCTV.com

10-06-2008 09:32

Special Report:   Global Financial Crisis

German ministers have begun a crisis meeting in Berlin to keep the country's Number 2 commercial property lender afloat. The Finance Ministry says the government will guarantee all private savings accounts.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and Finance Minster Peer Steinbrueck, right, give a statement in the Berlin Chancellery on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008. 'We will not allow the distress of one financial institution to distress the entire system,' Merkel told reporters while talks between government and business leaders continued in the capital. 'For that reason, we are working hard to secure Hypo Real Estate.'(AP Photo)
Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and Finance Minster Peer 
Steinbrueck, right, give a statement in the Berlin 
Chancellery on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2008. 'We will not allow 
the distress of one financial institution to distress the 
entire system,' Merkel told reporters while talks between 
government and business leaders continued in the capital.
 'For that reason, we are working hard to secure Hypo Real 
Estate.'(AP Photo)

Speaking at a joint news conference in Berlin with Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the government will not allow problems at troubled lender, Hypo Real Estate, infect the entire German banking system.

She said every effort will be made to secure the company, but its managers must be held accountable for the crisis.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, said, "The German government will ensure this. We owe it to the German taxpayers. In addition, we're telling them that their savings are safe. The German government guarantees this."