European leaders seek bank plan as IMF warns of meltdown

World powers vowed to keep a united front to solve the financial crisis as the IMF warned that the global system was on the  brink of meltdown ahead of new European crisis talks in Paris.     

Leaders of the 15 eurozone countries plus Britain are gathering in the French capital to announce a new package of measures to protect their banks from the global financial crisis.     

The European meeting comes a day after leading emerging nations met in Washington for vital Group of 20 (G20) talks on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the 185-member International Monetary Fund (IMF).     

The G20 grouping of countries which collectively account for 85 per cent of the global economy said they had agreed to use "all financial and economic tools" to stabilise the system.     

These efforts would be "closely communicated so that the action of one country does not come at the expense of others or the stability of the system as a whole," said a joint statement.     

The head of the IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, claimed a breakthrough with the first global pledge by members of his organisation to cooperate to stabilise turmoil in the financial sector.     

He had earlier warned that the financial system risked collapse.     

"Intensifying solvency concerns about a number of the largest US-based and European financial institutions have pushed the global financial system to the brink of systemic meltdown," he said.