President Barack Obama (file photo)
U.S. President Barack Obama is urging Congress to approve his plan tocreate a new government agency to protect Americans against financialabuses. Thepresident wants to establish a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

President Obama says Americans need a single consumer agency to protect them against irresponsible lenders.

Thepresident says many consumers took on too much debt and took out loansthey could not afford, but blames some financial companies for takingadvantage of their customers.

"My concern are the millions ofAmericans who behaved responsibly and yet still found themselves injeopardy because of the predatory practices of some in the financialindustry," he said. "These are folks who signed contracts they did notalways understand, offered by lenders who did not always tell thetruth."

At the White House Friday, Mr. Obama said seven federalagencies each have a part in regulating the financial industry, whichmeans lenders often escape accountability. He says that puts theentire U.S. economy at risk.

"As we have seen over the lastyear, abuses like these do not just jeopardize the financial well-beingof individual Americans-they can threaten the stability of the entireeconomy. And yet, the patchwork system of regulations we have now hasfailed to prevent these abuses," said Mr. Obama.

The president says his proposed federal agency will make financial regulation simpler and more effective.

"Thenew Consumer Financial Protection Agency that I have asked Congress tocreate will have just one mission: to look out for the financialinterests of ordinary Americans," he said. "It will be charged withsetting clear rules of the road for consumers and banks, and it will beable to enforce these rules across the board."

Mr. Obama firstasked Congress to create such an agency in June. The banking industryand some lawmakers have fought the proposal.

The president saysbanks and big financial firms are spending millions of dollars to makefalse claims about how a financial protection agency would work.