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LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Two major British banks got within hours of a liquidity shortfall last October as the financial system teetered on the brink of collapse, according to Bank of England Governor Mervyn King.
In a programme to be broadcast by BBC Television later on Thursday, King describes how strains in the money markets came to a head on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7 last year.
"Two of our major banks which had had difficulty in obtaining funding could raise money only for one week then only for one day, and then on that Monday and Tuesday it was not possible even for those two banks really to be confident they could get to the end of the day," King said, according to extracts released by the BBC.
The two banks were HBOS Plc and RBS, the BBC said.
The British government was forced to shore up the system with billions of pounds of taxpayers' money in a unprecedented rescue mission that was subsequently replicated in many other countries.
"It was, it is probably the worst situation as I say we faced in peace time," said Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, according to extracts from the BBC's "Love of Money" programme.

(Reporting by Christina Fincher, editing by Mike Peacock) Keywords: BRITAIN BOE/BANKS (uk.economics@reuters.com +44 207 542 7748; Reuters Messaging christina.fincher.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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