PARIS, FRANCE - SINCE the financial crisis began in August 2007, governments have stepped-up emergency aid to the financial sector. Here are the major public rescue plans announced to-date:

UNITED STATES

• The Federal Reserve loans nearly US$30 billion (S$44.3 billion) to JPMorgan Chase to purchase Bear Stearns and prevent it from collapsing (March 16).
• Mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are nationalised and receive US$200 billion (Sept 7).
• Insurance company AIG is nationalised in exchange for an US$85 billion loan from the Federal Reserve (Sept 16).
• The state seizes the assets of Washington Mutual and sells them to competitor JPMorgan Chase for US$1.9 billion (Sept 29).
• Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's plan authorises the state to unblock up to US$700 billion for buying toxic debt products accumulated by banks (Oct 3).

BRITAIN

• Northern Rock is nationalised (Feb 17).
• Bradford & Bingley is nationalised and its best assets resold to Spanish banking group Santander (Sept 29).
• The government ushers in a $50 billion pound (S$128 billion) bailout plan for Britain's eight largest banks and announces a partial nationalisation of these institutions (Oct 8).

IRELAND

• Dublin announces it will guarantee bank deposits in six Irish banks in the event that they fail (Oct 2).

ICELAND

• The island nation's second and third largest banks, Landsbanki and Glitnir, are nationalised (Oct 7 and 8).
• The state bails out Kaupthing, Iceland's largest bank, with 500 million euros (S$995 million) (Oct 7).

BENELUX AND FRANCE

• The Netherlands rescues Fortis (Sept 29)
  The bank's activities in Belgium and Luxembourg are transferred to French bank BNP Paribas (Oct 6). A separate Dutch- and Belgian-controlled structure, takes 10.4 billion euros of toxic products from Fortis.
• Franco-Belgian bank Dexia is nationalised by Belgium and France in exchange for six billion euros of aid, of which Luxembourg contributes 400 million euros (Sept 30).
• The Dutch government announces that it is to inject 10 billion euros into ING, one of the world's 20 biggest banks.

GERMANY

• IKB receives seven billion euros as part of a bailout from the state, which then resells the bank to the US investor, Lone Star (Aug 21). Berlin announces it will guarantee up to 600 billion euros worth of losses.
• The state guarantees up to 27 billion euros in a rescue plan for the German bank Hypo Real Estate (Sept 29).