U.K. May Invest $79 Billion in Banks: Report

The U.K. government may invest at least 45 billion pounds ($79 billion) in banks such as

Royal Bank of Scotland

(RBS) - Get Report

and

Barclays

(BCS) - Get Report

to bolster capital depleted by mortgage-related losses,

Bloomberg

reports.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling and Bank of England Governor Mervyn King met with banking CEOs from the banks late Monday to discuss the investment, according to

Bloomberg

, citing people with knowledge of the situation.

Darling said Monday he would do "whatever it takes"' to keep the financial system stable as capital markets remain frozen,

Bloomberg

reports.

In recent weeks, the U.K. government has bailed out

Bradford & Bingley

and arranged the takeover of

HBOS

.

This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet.com.