Frank: Obama to lead fin. agencies rejig

(For other news from the Reuters Global Financial Regulation Summit, click here)

(Adds further Frank comments, background)

By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - The Obama administration will take the lead on restructuring U.S. financial regulatory agencies, saving Congress from a damaging jurisdictional squabble, said Representative Barney Frank on Tuesday.

The chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee told the Reuters Global Financial Regulation Summit: "I told this to the president and to his people, they need to step in and talk about how to deal with that."

"The administration is, after all, making a proposal here. I've told them I believe this is one in particular where ... they're in the best position to deal with it," he said.

Frank and other lawmakers have tried in recent months without success to overcome traditional congressional areas of authority to move ahead on reorganizing agencies.

Government bureaucracies viewed last year as vulnerable to possible consolidation included the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission