America's two biggest mortgage companies have been bailed out by the government in a multi-billion dollar deal.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are responsible for almost half of mortgage finance in the US, will be backed by American taxpayers and temporarily nationalised.
The firms deal with mortgage debt equivalent to 25 times the amount on Northern Rock's books, the first British lender to fall foul of the sub-prime credit crisis and the potential liability for American taxpayers is $3 trillion (£1.7 trillion), reports the Daily Telegraph.
Commenting on the nationalisation plans for the two institutions, treasury secretary Henry Paulson said failure to take action would "create great turmoil in our financial markets here at home and around the globe".
Meanwhile, Northern Rock, which was nationalised in February, completed redundancy talks with workers' union Unite last week.
The mortgage lender is expected to make a third of its workforce redundant.
