U.S. to Unveil Bank-Investing Plans: Report

Updated from Monday, Oct. 13

The federal government is planning to unveil new initiatives to address stalled credit markets Tuesday, including a plan to buy equity stakes in banks, according to a published report.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Bush administration plans to detail new initiatives Tuesday that are meant to help resolve the financial crisis. One component of the program may involve the Treasury Department buying roughly $250 billion worth of equity in banks, the report said, citing people with knowledge of the situation. The funds would come from the $700 billion bailout package Congress recently cleared, the report said.

The U.S. government is expected to take stakes in nine of the nation's top financial institutions as part of a new plan to restore confidence to the battered U.S. banking system, the Journal reports Tuesday.

The government is set to buy preferred equity stakes in Goldman Sachs(GS Quote), Morgan Stanley(MS Quote), JPMorgan Chase(JPM Quote) , Bank of America(BAC Quote) -- including the soon-to-be acquired Merrill Lynch (MER Quote) -- Citigroup(C Quote), Wells Fargo(WFC Quote) , Bank of New York Mellon (BK Quote) and State Street(STT Quote), the Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

Bloomberg reports the Treasury plans to spend $25 billion each for stakes in Citigroup and JPMorgan. Another $25 billion will be divided between Bank of America and Merrill, which agreed last month to be acquired by Bank of America. Wells Fargo is to get at least $20 billion, Goldman and Morgan Stanley will each get $10 billion, and State Street and Bank of New York will get about $3 billion each.

Some of the big banks were unhappy about the government taking equity stakes, but acquiesced under pressure from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in a meeting Monday, the Journal reports.

The Journal reports other elements of the plan, which will be announced Tuesday morning, include: equity investments in possibly thousands of other banks; lifting the cap on deposit insurance for certain bank accounts, and guaranteeing certain types of bank lending.

The report comes after Paulson met Monday afternoon with the heads of major U.S. banks to discuss plans to stabilize financial markets. Many top bank executives are already in Washington, D.C. for meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

The Journal said expected participants in the meeting included Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit.

On Monday, the official in charge of the federal government's $700 billion effort to weed out troubled assets clogging credit markets and the U.S. banking system said the Treasury is working quickly to kick-start the program without sacrificing quality. Neel Kashkari, the Treasury's interim assistant secretary for financial stability, said the Troubled Asset Relief Program has begun hiring key staff and is still seeking accounting firms and companies to review proposals and manage assets.