'Something like this has to be done and the devil is in the details,' Mr Zoellick told Reuters, during former U.S. President Bill Clinton's philanthropic summit in New York City.
'I think it's a critical step. But there's still a lot more to go,' he said.
'They'll have to operationalise how they purchase the assets, they have to decide how they dispose of the assets and then the critical piece of the recapitalisation of the financial institutions, which can happen parallel.'
US Rep Barney Frank, the powerful Democratic chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has said the rescue plan would allow the government to take part-ownership of banks, ban companies who sell toxic assets, and implement measures to help some Americans avoid losing their homes.
When the US has problems it tends to force them up earlier, I mean in Japan this sort of process took 10 years and so it's not surprising there's an awful lot of Sturm and Drang about this as it goes forward,' Mr Zoellick said. 'But it will go forward and there will be oversight.' -- REUTERS