European officials are outlining a rescue plan that may include deeper investor losses on Greek bonds, higher bank capital levels and increased firepower for bailouts and the International Monetary Fund.

The plan's elements emerged as finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20 began talks in Paris, seeking ways to end Europe's two-year sovereign debt crisis. Underscoring the need for action, Standard & Poor's yesterday cut Spain's credit rating for the third time in three years and new data showed the eight largest U.S. money-market funds almost halved their lending to French banks last month.

“The sense of urgency is here,” Eric Chaney, chief economist for AXA SA, Europe's second-largest insurer, said in a Bloomberg Television interview with Maryam Nemazee in Paris today. “There will be a lot of pressure on Europeans to find a solution.”