Sep. 9--Britain's once-proud banking system is now considered less safe than those of Chad, Burundi and Tajikistan.

A report from the World Economic Forum showed that Canada has the world's soundest banks, closely followed by New Zealand, Australia and Chile. Britain ranks at a lowly 126th place.

The collapse of firms such as Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Bradford & Bingley has profoundly shaken faith in the UK financial sector, the report showed.

Government bailouts and guarantees worth hundreds of billions appear to have done little to reassure international observers.

It may be cold comfort, but the UK was not the only nation to tumble down the league table.

Switzerland clocks in at 44th place, while the U.S. is at 108th position, nestled just behind Tanzania and Azerbaijan.

Ukraine ranks rock-bottom at 133, just below Iceland, Zimbabwe and Mongolia.

Partly as a result of local problems with its financial markets, Britain has slipped a notch in the overall competitiveness league table to 13th place.

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