EU Nations Sign Bank Fund Plan in Biggest Step Since Euro

Euro-area nations did what was once said to be politically impossible -- sign an agreement on pooling money to deal with crisis-hit banks.

All European Union governments except the U.K. and Sweden signed the plan, which sets out how nations should transfer monies raised from levies on their banks to a central fund that could be tapped in crises. The fund is part of a broader move to joint supervision and crisis management of euro-area banks that other EU nations can sign up to voluntarily. The signing took place at a meeting of ambassadors today in Brussels.