"It is urgent," Michael Froman, Obama's top negotiator for next week's G20 gathering, told reporters.

He added that there must be "a consistent approach to regulation across jurisdictions" to avoid a "race to the bottom" in which financial players flock toward countries with more lenient oversight.

Obama used a high-profile speech on Wall Street on Monday to try to breathe new life into his proposals to fix regulatory gaps blamed for the 2008-2009 market panic that brought the financial system to the brink of collapse.