EU regulators yesterday cleared France's multibillion-euro fund to shore up banks and ease lending, as they set out new rules requiring banks with riskier investments to pay a higher fee for government cash bailouts.

EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said she also expected Germany to toughen the terms of a financial rescue plan for Commerzbank before the EU could clear it.

Banks are eager to shore up their positions with massive capital injections that governments have promised them to try and ease lending. They say they need this to continue to keep lending to customers in the wake of a financial crisis that paralyzed credit markets.