Governments across Europe have continued to prop up the battered financial sector, with Dexia, the Belgian-French financial services group, receiving more than $9bn from the Belgian, French and Luxembourg treasuries.

Facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, global central banks scrambled again on Tuesday to try to relieve a severe squeeze in money markets by more than doubling the amount of funding to $620 billion.

In Ireland, the government announced a blanket guarantee for savings held by its banks, covering up to $575bn in liabilities.

France, which had joined Belgium and Luxembourg in offering the lifeline to Dexia, which has run up huge losses in its US operations, said it would come to the aid of savers with new bank measures by the end of the week.