I think in the US the government made the decision to save IndyMac
I don't think it was the federal reserve bank. I can remember stephen Mayne saying what an extraordinary thing it was. I think he said it was equivalent to the government passing a law to fund a major bank like NAB or ANZ. that was how bad things were in the US was his comment in that they hadn't had to bail out a bank since the depression. words to that affect(it was on Debroh Cameron)
anyway they've had runs on banks in Britian ... Nth Rock and the US ... indymac