French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called today for banks to declare the full extent of the damage to their operations caused by the credit crunch.
"We agreed the need for greater transparency in financial markets to ensure that banks make full and prompt disclosure of the scale of write-offs, including finding ways to give greater certainty on the valuations of complex financial assets," Mr Brown and Mr Sarkozy said in a statement.
Leaders around the world are trying to stem the fallout from financial turmoil sparked by bad home-loan debts in the United States that has raised the risk of a global economic downturn.
Banks have written down more than $125 billion of assets due to the credit squeeze sparked by so-called sub-prime mortgages in the United States. Some estimates put the scale of bad debts on banks' books as high as $600 billion.
The two leaders also agreed to act to "secure global prosperity in a more turbulent global market place by reforming the IMF (International Monetary Fund) so that, in concert with the financial stability forum, it provides a credible and authoritative early warning system for the world economy and international financial system."
Mr Brown said the two also agreed action on issues including opening up trade between poor and rich countries, tackling illegal immigration and fighting climate change.
"We also agreed that we need Britain and France at the heart of Europe, a global Europe, that is reforming, open, flexible, outward-looking and retains a strong social dimension," Mr Brown said.
Mr Sarkozy pledged in a speech to the British parliament on Wednesday to send more troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan and called for a "new Franco-British brotherhood".