Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire investor George Soros said a pledge today by European leaders to guarantee new bank financing is a ``positive'' step that may help stabilize global financial markets.

``In the last 72 hours, I think the European governments got religion and realized that this is a serious problem,'' Soros said today at a press conference in Washington. ``People are looking for some leadership and finally they are getting it,'' suggesting there's ``a good chance'' the worst investor panic is over.

European leaders, seeking to calm stock markets and avert recession, agreed to use taxpayer money to keep distressed lenders afloat. While criticized earlier for lacking coordination and ambition, they may now be setting the pace in responding to the crisis.

U.S. ``authorities have been reactive rather than proactive, Soros said. ``They have been consistently behind the curve.'' He is chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC, a New York-based hedge-fund firm with $20 billion in assets.

Soros predicted that the Federal Reserve is headed ``toward lowering interest rates'' after cutting the benchmark interest rate last week to 1.5 percent in an emergency shift.

While predicting the moves of investors ``in a fully fledged panic'' is challenging, signs that officials are intensifying efforts to beat the crisis may mean the worst market turmoil has passed, he said. ``There is a good chance that we have seen the greatest degree of panic.''

Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven nations said on Oct. 10 that they would take ``all necessary steps'' to protect their banks and unfreeze credit markets after the worst financial meltdown since the Great Depression.

``This is the crisis of my lifetime,'' said Soros, who earned renown in 1992 for making $1 billion breaking the Bank of England's defense of the pound.

To contact the reporters on this story: Meera Louis in Washington at mlouis1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 12, 2008 20:42 EDT