Germany fully guarantees personal savings accounts

Facing the collapse of its second largest mortgage bank, Germany has taken the extraordinary step of fully guaranteeing personal savings accounts in Germany's banks to reduce the risk of any run on its banks. The move follows a similar broad guarantee by Ireland and Greece last week and shows the depth of the crisis in Europe's banking system. "Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said today that people in Germany will not lose a single euro of their savings because of this crisis, and that statement applies as of today,'' said his chief spokesman, Torsten Albig, in a telephone interview from Berlin with Bloomberg.com.