Some key bankers have moved toward support of a global bank wind-down fund to help cover the costs of bank failures, the Financial Times reported from Davos, Switzerland. The newspaper quoted Josef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank AG, as saying on Friday: "To help solve the too-big-to-fail problem I'm advocating a European rescue and resolution fund for banks."

The fund's capital would have to come largely from banks, he added. Barclays Plc president Bob Diamond was another supporter of the concept of a global levy, which could mean bank contributions of tens to hundreds of billions.

"I think every G20 country would like to have an insurance scheme that would help cover the cost of any future bank failure," Diamond was quoted as telling the FT at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The most realistic way to begin a global levy would be to start with Europe, the newspaper quoted Jaime Caruana, head of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), as saying.

Copyright Reuters, 2010