SCENARIOS: How can policymakers halt the financial carnage?

LONDON (Reuters) - Global finance ministers and central bankers meet in Washington at the G7 and the International Monetary Fund this weekend to discuss a response to the global financial crisis.

A coordinated approach by the world's major economies to strengthen the banking sector is urgently needed to stop the financial market carnage, analysts say.

Restoring confidence is the top priority. But the complexity and global nature of financial interlinkages make solutions difficult to agree upon or even to implement.

Ad-hoc packages of national measures have so far failed. Analysts say individual country efforts must be globally coherent and internationally reinforcing.

Here are some of the ways that could be achieved:

MONEY MARKET/INTERBANK GUARANTEE SCHEMES

Getting short-term money markets working again is critical to keeping the gears of the financial system greased. Momentum appears to be building toward guaranteeing these borrowings.

The UK government's promise to guarantee short-term lending between banks, known as the interbank borrowing market, could be a template for Europe and other G7 countries to follow. It would help unlock frozen money markets because it would give ailing banks a top credit rating and other banks would be ready to extend credit to them again on a daily basis.

The International Monetary Fund said on Friday guaranteeing bank deposits and interbank operations was "unavoidable".