Obama huddles with financial regulators

President Obama huddled with nearly a dozen financial regulators Monday morning to discuss the progress they’ve made on new rules for Wall Street in the four years since the Dodd-Frank Act was signed into law.

Obama urged the regulators to stay the course in an effort to “prevent excessive risk-taking across the financial system” and “commended” the work they’ve done so far, the White House said.

The president also urged the regulators to “consider additional ways to prevent excessive risk-taking across the financial system, including as they continue to work on compensation rules and capital standards,” the White House said.

The meeting was attended by more than a dozen high-ranking officials, including Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White and Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan.

Many of the regulators who attended are part of the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a new panel formed by the Dodd-Frank law that is intended to monitor risks to the financial system.

Obama talked during the meeting about the importance of the council “to identify and mitigate risks to the financial system and address areas of overlap or gaps in oversight,” and urged the officials to consider adopting a flexible approach that takes into account the “size and complexity of different institutions.”

Republicans have long been critical of the Dodd-Frank law, arguing it has had “harmful consequences” for the economy.

“Dodd-Frank is every bit as far-reaching in its harmful consequences for struggling Americans as Obamacare,” House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling said in a statement Monday. “Thanks to Dodd-Frank, it is harder for low-and moderate-income Americans to buy a home and there are fewer community banks serving the needs of families and small businesses.”

The Wall Street oversight meeting was attended by top financial regulators and White House officials, including:

• Janet Yellen, chairwoman of the Federal Reserve.

• Mary Jo White, chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

• Richard Cordray, director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

• Martin Gruenberg, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

• Mel Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

• Timothy Massad, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

• Thomas Curry, comptroller of the currency.

• Debbie Matz, chairwoman of the National Credit Union Administration.

• Jack Lew, secretary of the Treasury.

• Sarah Bloom Raskin, deputy secretary of the Treasury.

• Shaun Donovan, director of the Office of Management and Budget.

• Brian Deese, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.

• Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

• Jeff Zients, director of the National Economic Council and assistant to the president for economic policy.

• Seth Wheeler, special assistant to the president for economic policy.

• Neil Eggleston, White House counsel.

— This story was updated at 3:05 p.m.