Gordon Brown told the Financial Times the banks had to “come clean” about these bad debts so people could trust them again.High Street bank executives are holding talks with Treasury officials over the weekend about the economic crisis and the possibility of more help.
The talks come after shares in some major banks fell sharply on Friday.
Barclays was worst hit, down 25%, forcing it to calm market nerves by saying it knew of no reason why its value should fall. RBS closed 13% lower.
In the FT interview, Mr Brown refused to rule out further bank nationalisation plans or injecting taxpayers’ money into the sector.