NEW YORK -- It's not only besieged U.S. banks that are lining up for a handout from Uncle Sam's US$700-billion bailout fund.
Insurance companies and other non-banking firms also are lobbying hard on Capitol Hill to get a piece of the U.S. government's unprecedented financial aid package.
With the turbulence in financial markets showing little signs of abating, Washington is being persuaded that troubled companies other than banks are in need of assistance.
After saying this month it would use US$125-billion of the bailout fund to invest in nine of the country's top banks to build confidence in the financial system, the U.S. Treasury now is weighing whether to take similar equity stakes in bond and mortgage insurance firms.
The move could stretch the bailout fund thin.
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=906765
