BERNANKE TURNS TO CONGRESS
Ben Bernanke
HARWICH - Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke  acknowledging that failures in oversight contributed to a near-catastrophic financial crisis  yesterday called on Congress to enact comprehensive changes that he said would close gaps in regulation  prevent future bailouts  and create a council of top regulators to identify risks to the nation's financial system.
 Bernanke  speaking at the annual conference of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank  said the Fed has already taken a number of steps to improve supervision of banks  expanding its focus from individual institutions to include stability of the financial system. In addition  it has taken steps to crack down on risky practices  including issuing guidelines to banks to overhaul bonus systems that may spur employees to take excessive risks.
 Ultimately  however  Congress must act  Bernanke said. The nation needs a way to deal with the failure of large  complex financial institutions without putting the entire system at risk or bailing them out with taxpayer money. It needs to bring all financial institutions under rigorous federal oversight. And it needs to coordinate information and action among US financial regulators to identify and prevent threats to financial stability  he said.
 "It remains critical for Congress to close regulatory gaps and provide supervisors with additional tools for anticipating and managing systemic risks " Bernanke said in prepared remarks. "Large  complex financial firms that do not own a bank  but nonetheless pose risks to the overall financial system  must not be permitted to avoid comprehensive and effective supervisory oversight."
 Bernanke was the keynote speaker at a three-day conference sponsored by the Boston Fed. The conference  entitled "After the Fall " brought together business and academic economists to explore ways to prevent another financial crisis like the one that edged the US and global economies toward another depression.
 Bernanke said aggressive and coordinated international efforts by central banks and governments had averted a collapse in the global financial and economic systems. Conditions have improved substantially in recent months  he said.
 "However  even though we avoided the worst financial and economic outcomes  the fallout from the crisis has nonetheless been very severe " he said. "Now is the time for policy makers to take action to reduce the probability and severity of future crises."
[TGT]acknowledging that failures in oversight contributed to a near-catastrophic financial crisis  yesterday called on Congress to enact comprehensive changes that [TGT] said would close gaps in regulation  prevent future bailouts  and create a council of top regulators to identify risks to the nation's financial system.
 [TGT]speaking at the annual conference of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank  said the Fed has already taken a number of steps to improve supervision of banks  expanding its focus from individual institutions to include stability of the financial system. In addition  [TGT] has taken steps to crack down on risky practices  including issuing guidelines to banks to overhaul bonus systems that may spur employees to take excessive risks.
 Ultimately  however  Congress must act  [TGT] said. The nation needs a way to deal with the failure of large  complex financial institutions without putting the entire system at risk or bailing them out with taxpayer money. It needs to bring all financial institutions under rigorous federal oversight. And it needs to coordinate information and action among US financial regulators to identify and prevent threats to financial stability  he said.
 "It remains critical for Congress to close regulatory gaps and provide supervisors with additional tools for anticipating and managing systemic risks " [TGT] said in prepared remarks. "Large  complex financial firms that do not own a bank  but nonetheless pose risks to the overall financial system  must not be permitted to avoid comprehensive and effective supervisory oversight.[TGT] was the keynote speaker at a three-day conference sponsored by the Boston Fed. The conference  entitled "After the Fall " brought together business and academic economists to explore ways to prevent another financial crisis like the one that edged the US and global economies toward another depression.
 [TGT] said aggressive and coordinated international efforts by central banks and governments had averted a collapse in the global financial and economic systems. Conditions have improved substantially in recent months  [TGT] said.
 "However  even though we avoided the worst financial and economic outcomes  the fallout from the crisis has nonetheless been very severe " [TGT] said. "Now is the time for policy makers to take action to reduce the probability and severity of future crises."