Bush seeks global action plan for crisis at summit

The Bush administration is hopeful that world leaders, at a summit in Washington next week, will adopt an action plan singling out some short-term steps that could be taken to deal with the current financial crisis as well as prevent similar problems from happening again.

The plan could include measures aimed at promoting more openness -- or transparency -- in financial markets; improving “risk management,” the procedures that financial institutions follow to detect and protect themselves against risky investment decisions; and bolstering accounting rules, administration officials said Wednesday.

Although the White House also believes leaders will be able to find some common ground for fighting the worst financial crisis to jolt the global economy in more than half a century, there is little appetite in the waning days of the administration for overhauling financial regulations.

Europeans -- led by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- are seeking ambitious regulatory reforms coordinated among countries to prevent a repeat of similar housing, credit and financial debacles that are now imperiling the economies of the United States and the world.

The Bush administration predicts world leaders -- those from the top 20 economic powers have been invited to attend -- will come together on broad principles of reform to better protect against future financial crises, promote regulatory cooperation among countries and identify the crises’ causes.

“We are working in a cooperative spirit,” White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said this week.