Dodd presents financial regulatory bill

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., Tuesday floated a bill that would restructure the U.S. regulatory system overseeing the complex financial services sector.

The bill, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill, would establish an Agency for Financial Stability to identify and address risks to the financial system's stability. The agency, led by a presidential-appointed, Senate-approved chairman, could establish regulations on capital, leverage and liquidity requirements, under provisions of the bill.

The bill would seek to have federal regulators impose, "increasingly strict standards for companies as they grow larger, more complex, or more interconnected, including heightened capital, leverage, and liquidity requirements, that ensure these companies have greater resources to deal with financial shocks," its summary said.

Among other things, the bill would create a Financial Institutions Regulatory Administration, which would consolidate bank supervision responsibility of the four existing regulators -- the Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The bill would also establish a system for phasing out failing financial institutions and would impose new restrictions on the multitrillion-dollar market for financial derivatives.

Dodd's proposal would provide funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission by allowing it to keep the fees it charges companies, a step that would release it from working each year through Congressional appropriations, The New York Times reported.