Obama administration officials worked Sunday to persuade reluctant private investors to buy as much as $1,000bn in troubled mortgages and related assets from banks, with government help, reports the NYT. The talks came the day before Treasury secretary Tim Geithner is due to unveil details of the administration’s plan to purchase bank assets. As part of the programme, the government plans to offer subsidies, in the form of low-interest loans, to coax private funds to form partnerships with the government to buy troubled assets from banks.