Obama: financial regulation bill urgent, crucial

Published: 27 Oct 2009 15:57:40 PST

WASHINGTON, Oct 27 - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that a new financial regulation bill introduced by fellow Democrats was urgent and crucial to prevent excessive risk-taking by big financial firms.

"We cannot meet these tests with a set of small changes at the margin," Obama said in a letter to Barney Frank, chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, that also stressed the importance of building a stronger financial system in which no firm was "too big to fail."