Oct 15 (Reuters) - The rescue plan unveiled by the United States to protect the nation’s banks represents “a major step towards stabilising the system,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson told the Financial Times in an interview.

Paulson told the paper he would not claim the action marked “an end to financial stress,” adding that the effects of the intervention would “clearly take time to work through.”

The U.S. was pressing ahead in parallel with its plan to buy troubled mortgage-related assets, Paulson told the paper.

The U.S. ushered in a new era in banking on Tuesday with plans to take equity stakes totalling up to $250 billion in financial institutions, an incursion into the private sector that U.S. officials called a regrettable last resort. [ID:nSP390369] (Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; Editing by Anshuman Daga)