Obama unveils most significant regulation of financial industry since Great Depression

Under the plan, the government will make the Fed a systemic risk regulator to oversee large institutions whose failure could threaten the stability of the entire system. It also will create a council of regulators with broad coordination responsibility across the financial system. The council will discuss systemic risks but the Fed will not need its approval to act against them. In a speech at the White House, President Barack Obama said the current crisis is due to "a cascade of mistakes and missed opportunities" which took place over several decades. "We did not choose how this crisis began. But we do have a choice in the legacy this crisis leaves behind," said Obama. "So today, my administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of the financial regulatory system, a transformation on a scale not seen since the reforms that followed the Great Depression." "It's time for that to change. I am proposing that the Federal Reserve be granted new authority -- and accountability -- for regulating bank holding companies and other large firms that pose a risk to the entire economy in the event of failure," said Obama. There will also be a new regulator to protect consumers and investors from risks in the financial world; Kazinform cites Xinhua.