He spoke as The Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank jointly announced they would work together to provide unlimited short-term funds to make money available to ease the credit freeze. The Bank of Japan said it was considering a similar move.

To assist the European banks, the Fed said it was taking actions to assure enough U.S. dollar funds were available to meet demand.

"The government cannot just leave people on their own to be buffeted about," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

European governments said they are putting nearly $2 trillion on the line to protect the continent's banks through guarantees and other emergency measures. Pledges by Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Portugal in recent days have reached a total of $1.96 trillion. The sums are considered a maximum, and might not all be spent if the financial crisis eases.

The administration on Monday also announced the selection of a team of interim managers, picked an outside firm to help run the program and tapped Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to head up the oversight board guarding against conflicts of interest.

Kashkari, the assistant Treasury secretary who is interim head of the program, said officials were developing the guidelines that will govern the purchase of bad assets and had consulted with six specialist law firms on how the government will take partial ownership of banks.

After those consultations, Kashkari said Treasury had chosen Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett LLP to move forward to help the government structure the stock purchase program.

"We are moving quickly — but methodically — and I am confident we are building the foundation for a strong, decisive and effective program," Kashkari said in a speech Monday to the Institute of International Bankers.

Kashkari, however, provided few details about how the program will actually buy bad assets and partial ownership in banks. He focused mainly on the nuts and bolts of getting the program running.

He said five veteran government officials had been chosen as interim heads of key components of the program including Tom Bloom, currently the chief financial officer at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, to serve as the chief financial officer for the rescue program.

Kashkari said seven policy teams at Treasury had been created to focus on the different aspects of the program including buying bad assets such as mortgage-backed securities.