Finance chiefs from around the world have turned up the heat on Europe to do more to prevent Greece's debt crisis from infecting other euro zone countries and the world economy.

Concern now appeared to be turning toward safeguarding the banking system more than rescuing Greece, as international lenders were increasingly losing patience with Athens consistently missing fiscal and reform targets.

"They have six weeks to resolve this crisis," said British finance minister George Osborne, speaking on the sidelines of semi-annual policy discussions in Washington.

Euro zone leaders need to have the situation under control by the time leaders of the Group of 20 economies meet in France in November, he said.

World stock markets, which had plunged to a 14-month low on fears about the scale of the euro zone crisis, steadied after European Central Bank officials said they would use more firepower to help the banking system through the crisis.

Pressure is growing on European governments for a recapitalization of the region's banks to strengthen them in the event of a Greek default.

At the same time, European policy-makers seemed to be warming to the idea of giving more muscle to their bailout fund which would be tested in the event of a Greek debt default.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos was quoted by two newspapers as saying an orderly default with a 50 percent haircut for bondholders was one way to resolve the heavily indebted euro zone nation's cash crunch.