What the overhaul would do

The Bush administration's plan to overhaul financial regulation would allow:

* The Fed to collect information from commercial banks, investment banks, insurance companies, hedge funds, private-equity firms and commodity-pool operators. But oversight would be minimal, enabling the government to do little beyond collecting information until a wide-scale financial crisis has already occurred.

* Create a federal commission, the Mortgage Origination Commission, to develop standards and educational requirements for mortgage brokers and others who originate home loans. Regulators also would track complaints and disciplinary action against lenders.

* Allow national insurance companies to opt out of state regulation if they're willing to be regulated by a federal insurance regulator, which doesn't exist. An Office of National Insurance would be created in the Treasury Department.

* Merge the functions of the Securities and Exchange Commission with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, creating one agency to oversee futures and securities trading. The plan suggests areas where the SEC should take a lighter approach to its oversight, such as allowing stock exchanges greater leeway to regulate themselves.

* Consolidate several financial agencies to create three major regulators. The Federal Reserve would oversee the entire financial system. A "prudential financial regulator" would focus on the safety of financial institutions that have explicit government guarantees. A "business conduct regulator" would oversee businesses to protect public investors and customers of financial firms.