U.S.' Paulson to discuss G7 financial coordination

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration said U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson at a news conference on Wednesday will discuss coordinated actions by wealthy industrialized countries to ease financial system stress.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Paulson may discuss a plan floated by Prime Minister Gordon Brown for concerted action to guarantee inter-bank lending.

"Secretary Paulson might have more to say on that today at his press conference," Perino told a daily White House news briefing, adding that the subject also will be discussed at Friday's meeting of Group of Seven central bank governors and finance ministers.

She declined to provide any more details about the Brown plan, which was disclosed by a G7 source who said the British leader sent a letter to G7 counterparts urging them to issue a set of similar national guarantees aimed at restoring trust in the global market for bank funding.

"We will continue to talk with our allies and coordinate with them, and I think this morning's action with the Fed governors is an example," Perino said, referring to a coordinated interest rate cut by major global central banks.

Paulson is scheduled to appear with David McCormick, the Treasury's undersecretary for international affairs, to discuss the G7 meeting. He will issue prepared remarks and take questions from the media, the Treasury said.

The news conference is scheduled for 3 p.m. (8 p.m. British time).

Perino said Paulson also will focus on the Treasury's coordinated actions with other federal regulators to tackle "the four key challenges in our financial markets today: confidence, capital, systemic risk, and liquidity."

The Treasury will host the finance minsters and central bank governors of Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan on Friday ahead of semi-annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

(Reporting by David Lawder and Andy Sullivan; Editing by Andrea Ricci)