MacroScope

Josef Ackermann, Chairman of the Institute of International Finance and the head of Deutsche Bank, says he’s confident leaders from around the world will take needed steps to bringing normality to the world’s struggling financial system.

“I am pretty sure that the governments will guarantee parts of the whole sale funding and that should actually tell people that there is no risk and you don’t lose money while investing in other banks and I think that is important,” the head of Germany’s largest bank said Sunday.

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Charles Dallara, managing director of the Institute of International Finance (IIF), a global association of financial firms, says the United States has larger worries than a weak U.S. dollar.

“The dollar is just a function I think now of the shifting tides of confidence in the system,” Dallara tells Reuters.

His real worry? Lending between banks, which has virtually come to a standstill.

Stocks are tumbling around the world and Mainstreet is feeling the crunch, but at the Institute of International Finance (IIF) luncheon it was hard to see the dark side past the luxurious chocolate mousse cake and keynote comedy.

Jacob Frenkel, the vice-chairman of American Internal Group (AIG) — yes, that insurer on the receiving end of an $85 billion government bailout a few weeks ago (and now an extra $37.8 billion loan ), gave a light-hearted address on the G7′s plan of action to combat the credit crisis.

Frenkel was quick to take issue with the lack of details in the G7 plan and urged the importance of concrete dates.