(Xinhua) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday called for stronger regulatory oversight of mortgage lenders to ensure that the current credit crisis is not repeated. "As we continue to address current market stress, we must also examine the appropriate policy responses," Paulson said in a speech at the National Press Club. "The President's Working Group on Financial Markets, the PWG, has been reviewing policy issues to help reduce the likelihood that mistakes of the past are repeated," he said. "The objective here is to get the balance right regulation needs to catch up with innovation and help restore investor confidence but not go so far as to create new problems, make our markets less efficient or cut off credit to those who need it," said Paulson, chairman of the PWG, which includes the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The PWG is recommending that the federal and state regulators should strengthen oversight of all mortgage originators. The state financial regulators should implement strong nationwide licensing standards for mortgage brokers and the Federal Reserve will issue revised rules for consumer protection and disclosure requirements, said Paulson.