WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - A White House official said on Thursday that U.S. President Barack Obama's economic team made a unanimous recommendation to submit the new proposals to limit banks' risk.
The official said the economic team considered the concern that proprietary trading was not at the heart of the problem that fueled the financial crisis. The team concluded that reform needed to be about more than just fighting the last war, and needed to address sources of future risk as well, the official said.
Financial industry sources said on Thursday Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has hesitation about the proposed limits on proprietary trading and the size of big banks.
The sources, speaking anonymously because Geithner has not spoken publicly about his reservations, said he is concerned that politics could be sacrificing good economic policy and that the proposals do not get at the root of the problems that drove the recent financial meltdown. (Reporting by Jeff Mason with additional reporting by Karey Wutkowski and Steve Eder; Editing by Diane Craft)