Treasury And Fed To Meet With Financial Executives

(AP) – Top U.S. government officials and leading bank executives are meeting in Washington today to nail down details of a $700 billion financial rescue plan.

The goal is to thaw out frozen credit markets. The strategy includes having the government buy up financial firms’ bad debt and taking partial ownership of certain banks.

A Treasury Department spokeswoman says officials from Treasury and the Federal Reserve were invited to today’s meeting, along with executives from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. Invitations may also have gone to regional bank CEOs.

Also today, the administration announced the selection of interim managers and an outside firm to help run the rescue program. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been tapped to head an oversight board guarding against conflicts of interest.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)