Dodd's bank bill sees agencies combine

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- A financial regulation bill being written by U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., differs from ideas backed by the White House, the senator says.

Dodd's bill, which is expected to play the same role in the effort to place tighter controls on Wall Street as the bill crafted by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., did for healthcare reform, includes a measure to merge four current bank supervisory agencies into one super-regulator, The New York Times reported Sunday.

That differs from a plan backed by U.S. President Barack Obama, which dropped the idea of combining the Federal Reserve, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Comptroller of the Currency into one super-regulatory agency.

"We clearly need to put in place an architecture that restores confidence and makes people feel that when they engage in financial activities, from making a bank deposit to buying insurance or investing in stock, that they can have confidence in the system," Dodd told the Times. "On the other side of this, I don't want to strangle business."

The newspaper said a U.S. House bill being worked on is closer to the White House.