In remarks at the White House, he delineated his call for a new consumer watchdog and accused critics such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of trying to scuttle reform.

"In a financial system that has never been more complicated, it has never been more important to have a watchdog function like the one we've proposed," Obama said.

The proposed consumer protection agency is a centerpiece of his comprehensive financial regulatory overhaul announced in June to tighten oversight of large firms that stoked the global crisis with their excessive risk-taking.

"Predictably, a lot of banks and big financial firms don't like the idea of a consumer agency very much," Obama said. "They're doing what they always do -- using every bit of influence to maintain the status quo that has maximized their profits at the expense of American consumers."

But the president pressed the case for reform, saying it is necessary to protect the U.S. consumer from "ridiculously confusing contracts" used by financial institutions.

"We have already seen and lived the consequences of what happens when there is too little accountability on Wall Street and too little protection for Main Street, and I will not allow this country to go back there," he said.

In addition to the consumer protection agency, Obama's financial regulatory overhaul package includes giving powers to the Federal Reserve to oversee the entire financial system.

The package, which Congress must approve, would also dismantle the Office of Thrift Supervision, a federal bank regulator and supervisor affiliated with the Treasury Department.

The office drew fire for the near bankruptcy last year of insurance titan American International Group Inc., which the government eventually rescued at a cost of $180 billion, and the collapse of Washington Mutual Inc., the largest bank to fail in U.S. history.