WORLD> America
Obama urges quick action on Wall Street reform
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-26 10:34

Aiming for April

New York Senator Charles Schumer, a member of the Democratic leadership, said the Treasury Department is working with lawmakers to overhaul financial regulations.

The aim is to have a framework for such legislation by April 2 when Obama goes to the G20.

Schumer said the United States wants G20 leaders to know what the United States is planning, at least in general terms, to avert possible conflicts with efforts overseas.

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"In the financial world, if we were to legislate and Europe would do something totally different, it might undercut everything we do," Schumer told reporters on Capitol Hill.

"Our intention is to try to get this done in the coming weeks and months," Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, told reporters after the White House meeting.

The European Union is also stepping up the pace of financial regulation reform.

The executive European Commission published guidelines on Wednesday for an EU-wide approach to dealing with toxic assets at banks and a report to be debated by EU leaders called for two bodies to coordinate oversight of financial institutions across Europe.

Obama said the need for regulatory reform was a global one.

"We must recognize that the challenges we face are not just American challenges, they are global challenges," he said.

Well before the mid-September collapse of Lehman Brothers led to a meltdown in the financial markets, Obama had urged a wide-ranging overhaul of the patchwork system of Wall Street regulatory agencies. He said the weak and outdated system would leave Wall Street vulnerable in a crisis.

Obama gave a speech on the subject at NASDAQ in September 2007, and in another speech in March 2008, he outlined principles of his vision for updating the financial rules.

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