NEW YORK (Reuters) - No sooner does Washington propose a new tax than an army of experts tries to figure out ways to avoid it. That is already the case with U.S. President Barack Obama's proposed fee on banks, designed to ensure that Wall Street banks pay up to $117 billion to reimburse taxpayers for the financial bailout: Bankers ...

The U.S. government says it won't let any of its 19 largest banks fail. That doesn't mean they'll all be around in a couple years. This week's stress tests showed that while many big banks need more capital, regulators aren't declaring them ...

Buying stakes in troubled banks. Taking control of toxic assets. Some of the tactics the government has turned to, or proposed, as it tries to rescue the financial system have inspired a discussion of whether the institutions should be nationalized. But what does it really ...

The day before President-elect Barack Obama takes office, the escalating troubles facing major banks around the world couldn't be clearer. On Monday, the British government swooped in to boost its stake in troubled Royal Bank of Scotland to almost 70 percent and offered to ...