Frank stands by regulatory plan

“There is no pattern of overregulation I can see in the consumer area, and I don’t see one here,’’ Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, said at a hearing on the Obama administration’s proposals to overhaul regulation of the financial industry after high-risk practices helped bring about a deep recession.

The consumer agency is envisioned as a central component of President Obama’s broader plan to usher in a new era of regulation for banks and other financial institutions.

Frank’s panel is expected to begin in July to consider measures to put a new system in place. The Democratic majority on the committee will probably endorse creation of the consumer agency, but other pieces of the bill could take longer, as some lawmakers question whether Obama’s plan would give too much power to the Federal Reserve.

Frank and Democratic Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said they promised Obama a bill would be on his desk by year’s end.

While Democrats seem to be united on creating a consumer-protection agency, Republicans and industry groups are railing against it. They say there already are enough regulators policing the market and that holding them more accountable would have prevented the current economic crisis.