The figure is the amount of consumers' cash which will be protected in future if their bank crashes - but it is only half the amount many ministers wanted to fix as the threshold to calm markets.

The move was agreed in Luxembourg as ministers vowed to step up cross-border co-operation in the face of banking chaos and issued a statement declaring: "The liquidity of the financial system shall be ensured by all authorities in order to preserve confidence and stability."

The meeting began with a figure of 100,000 euros on the table - £77,800 - as the level up to which savers' investments would be guaranteed across 27 countries.

But that was seen as too high by some ministers - Sweden, for instance, has only just moved to a new domestic deposit protection level of 40,000 euros.

The UK has just upped the national figure to £50,000 pounds - 64,000 euros.

This afternoon's statement said all member states would "for an initial period of at least one year" provide deposit guarantee protection for individuals of at least 50,000 euros, compared with the current EU figure of 20,000 euros.

But it acknowledged some countries will offer higher protection, and urged the European Commission to produce urgent proposals "to promote convergence of deposit guarantee schemes".