Case made to keep all banking duties

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged Congress Wednesday to let the Fed keep all of its banking oversight, arguing that information gleaned from that process helps the central bank guide the economy.

Testifying at a House hearing, Bernanke waged a fresh battle against Senate efforts to scale back the Fed’s role in overseeing the nation’s banks.

In an effort to overhaul the nation’s financial regulatory structure, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has offered legislation that would strip the Fed of its power to supervise state-chartered banks and bank holding companies with assets of less than $50 billion.

That would leave the Fed with 35 of the biggest bank holding companies under its supervision.

Tags: us business, business, banking