With bank stress tests out of the way and favourably received by the markets, the Obama administration will now roll out the next phase of its financial rescue plan: schemes to deal with toxic “legacy assets”.

Senior administration officials are keen to get new private-public marketplaces for these bubble-era loans and securities up and running quickly so banks can clean up their balance sheets and attract the $74.6bn (€54.8bn, £49bn) in equity they need to meet their stress test targets.