French PM threatens to nationalise loan-wary banks

Paris, Nov 3 (DPA) French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has threatened to nationalise any French bank receiving emergency government aid that does not extend loans to businesses, the online edition of the daily Le Figaro reported Monday.

Interviewed for a television programme to be broadcast late Monday, Fillon said, 'If we feel that the banks are not doing the necessary work, we will take back the credits we have given them.'

Without this government aid, Fillon said, the banks will find themselves in difficulty.

'The next question is if we will then take over the bank's capital, possibly to change their leadership, to oversee their strategy,' he said.

The French government last month established a fund to make available up to 265 billion euros ($340 billion) to French banks to guarantee interbank loans and loans to businesses.

The plan was approved by the European Union Thursday.

The French government has established a kind of regional oversight system to ascertain if small and medium-sized enterprises were in fact receiving credit from banks.