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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s administration on Tuesday sent Congress a detailed plan to create one of the most ambitious parts of the president’s proposed overhaul of financial regulation, a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

The Treasury Department’s proposal would gather consumer protection powers that now are spread among many bank regulators and place them under a single roof. If it’s enacted, this would be a huge step by government into private banking after a hands-off approach for the past two decades.

The most important feature is that the agency would have the sole mission of consumer protection. One lesson of the financial crisis is that the several agencies that shared that responsibility made it a lower priority than their other missions and failed to protect consumers.

Obama proposed the agency in response to the nation’s deep financial crisis, which is rooted largely in shoddy mortgage-lending practices that exploded in the first half of this decade thanks to regulatory gaps and weak enforcement of consumer protection rules.

The proposed legislation would give the new agency powers to set and enforce standards for things such as mortgage and credit card disclosure statements.

It also would cover payday lending and other forms of consumer credit — even stored-value gift cards from retailers. Its reach would span at least 16 existing consumer protection laws and numerous agencies.

"We have the view that the market, left to its own devices, isn’t always going to lead to an optimal outcome for consumers," Michael Barr, the assistant treasury secretary for financial institutions, said.

Financial institutions said the move went beyond a step back to regulation. "This is going in headfirst," said Scott Talbott, the senior vice president of government affairs for the Financial Services Roundtable, the lobby for the nation’s biggest financial firms. "This could take us back to the 1950s."

While denying that the legislation is heavy-handed, Barr acknowledged that it would open a new era of financial regulation payday loan online.

"I don’t think it’s a surprise that big banks and institutions that benefited from the status quo want to keep it that way," he said.

In a nod to concerns raised by financial institutions, the agency would be required to weigh beforehand the potential costs and benefits of any actions it might take and to monitor how those actions worked to ensure they weren’t burdensome to commercial activity.

Although financial firms have voiced support for the concept, this proposal could get in their way significantly. For example, the new agency would have the power to restrict certain kinds of mortgages or credit card terms. That might protect consumers, but financial firms fear it also might inhibit legitimate business practices.

"It allows the agency to set the terms of a financial product, and that could have a chilling effect on creativity and innovation of products," Talbott said.

One of the agency’s main powers would be enforcing the credit card legislation Congress passed earlier this year. It aims to end unfair rate increases and will impose new rules on late-payment fees to prevent nasty surprises to consumers.

"When a customer can’t read the papers at a mortgage closing or make a quick comparison of credit cards to see which ones have hidden terms, the credit market is broken," said Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard University professor who’s the head of a congressional watchdog panel that’s overseeing the spending of Wall Street bailout money and widely credited for the idea of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

Importantly, the legislation would require mortgage brokers to find the best deals for prospective homebuyers. The lack of any such requirement was key to the subprime mortgage crisis. Many homeowners were pushed into exploitive mortgages, wrongly assuming that mortgage brokers, who help arrange financing, had their best interests at heart.

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Strong buying interest in energy and financial stocks pushed the Toronto stock market to a solid gain Monday.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 87.01 points to 10,476.77 ahead of a shortened trading week in Canada and the United States.

The TSX energy sector was ahead 1.4 per cent as the August crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange moved up $2.33 to US$71.49.

The rise came amid a report from the International Energy Agency that it is cutting at least three million barrels a day from its oil demand forecasts for the coming five years.

But prices found support after Nigerian militants damaged and partly shut down an offshore oil platform belonging to Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

Prices also rose in reaction to China's plans to increase its strategic crude oil reserves by 60 per cent.

EnCana Corp. (TSX: ECA) gained 75 cents to $57.56, while Suncor Inc. (TSX: SU) was up 52 cents to $35.40.

The financial sector was up 1.7 per cent. Scotiabank (TSX: BNS) was ahead $1.24 to $44.24 and Royal Bank (TSX: RY) improved $1.15 to $48.69.

The Canadian dollar moved down 0.19 of a cent to 86.45 cents US.

The TSX Venture Exchange declined six points to 1,105.56.

The TSX built on a gain of just under one per cent last week. The market's main index closed Friday about 300 points shy of the 2009 high of 10,714 set on June 11, at which point the TSX had surged 41 per cent since the start of the spring rally.

But analysts think that the market is in for a second wind.

"I would think that once we see the second-quarter numbers, it will be `are those green shoots actually emerging' – and probably they will be because we're going to have an inventory rebuild," said Gavin Graham, director of investments at BMO Asset Management.

"Now (investors) know the world isn't coming to an end, you need to rebuild them at least to a level that enables you to fulfill customer demand. And so that's going to give us a really good kicker in the second and third quarter."

However, after that he sees a lacklustre showing on markets as global economies work their way out of a serious recession no fax quick cash.

"You've seen the forecasts from the people at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Bank saying we're going to be growing next year and maybe it's going to be one per cent and that's quite frankly a pretty unimpressive rate of growth," added Graham.

Rising energy stocks also helped drive New York markets higher after both the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 lost ground last week.

The Dow Jones industrial average moved ahead 90.99 points to 8,529.38 with ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) ahead $1.66 to US$70.71.

The Nasdaq composite index climbed 5.84 points to 1,844.06 while the S&P 500 edged up 8.33 points to 927.23.

The trading week – shortened by Canada Day on Wednesday and by a U.S. holiday on Friday – will see key economic data that will give investors a better sense of where the economy is headed.

Statistics Canada will release April gross domestic product figures on Tuesday. Economists expect to see a contraction of 0.1 per cent on the month, following a 0.3 per cent dip in March.

And on Thursday, the U.S. government releases its June employment report. Investors are braced for the American economy to shed 365,000 jobs during the month.

Outside of the energy, financial and utilities groups, performance was lacklustre in Toronto with declines led by a 0.7 per cent dip in the base metals sector, even as copper prices rose 1.9 cents to US$2.3125 a pound

Teck Cominco Ltd. (TSX: TCK.B) stepped back 55 cents to $18.58 and HudBay Minerals (TSX: HBM) declined 12 cents to $7.76.

The market also got support from heavyweight Potash Corp. (TSX: POT) up $2.69 to $110.35 despite its announcement at the end of last week that it was cutting its earnings guidance.

And coffee giant Tim Hortons Inc. (TSX: THI) is returning its home base to Canada with a plan to reorganize and convert to a Canadian-based corporation. Tim Hortons says the reorganization will save money due to Canada's lower tax rates and make international expansion easier.

Its shares edged up nine cents to $28.75.

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LaGuardia Airport is the smallest of the three major airports in the New York area, with just two main runways. Planes often sit in long lines on the tarmac, waiting their turn to take off.

So why would Southwest Airlines, a carrier that boasts about its on-time prowess, want to go there? In many ways, because it has to.

Southwest prospered by offering low fares to leisure travelers whose only other affordable option was a car trip. It flew primarily to America’s secondary airports where costs are low and productivity is high because incoming planes can land, drop off passengers, take on the next group and get back in the air quickly.

Today, Southwest starts service at LaGuardia, one of the nation’s most congested airports. This should bring cheaper ticket prices to New York area vacationers flying to Chicago, Baltimore and beyond. But the move is also part of a risky transition to win the loyalty of business travelers who increasingly will dictate Southwest’s future prospects for success.

Southwest started flying in 1971 with three planes. Herb Kelleher, the garrulous, chain-smoking co-founder, fought in court and in the air against bigger airlines that tried to run him out of business.

Southwest didn’t offer the amenities found on other airlines, but it outlived early rivals by sticking to a core philosophy: Give people low fares and great service.

The Dallas-based carrier still sees itself as an underdog today, even as it serves 65 cities, including St. Louis, and carries more than 100 million U.S. passengers per year, more than any other airline.

There are still no first-class cabins and no assigned seats on Southwest, giving it the air of a carrier for penny-pinching vacationers.

"We’re very dependent on business travelers, so we’re not a leisure airline like some of our smaller competitors are," CEO Gary C. Kelly countered in an interview. He says company surveys show that in normal times at least 40 percent of his customers are traveling on business.

Airlines covet business travelers because they make repeat trips and often pay higher fares for booking at the last minute car insurance and quote.

Southwest needs that revenue now. The airline has been profitable for 36 straight years but has been in the red since last fall. Traffic is down and costs are rising.

While it’s cutting flights across its system, Southwest is also entering New York and three other big cities, including Boston’s Logan Airport.

Kelly has been fine-tuning the Southwest model since becoming CEO in 2004. In pursuit of business travelers, he bent the traditional "first come, first serve" seating rules with "Business Select." Passengers pay a few bucks more to get a spot at the front of the boarding line, an extra frequent-flier award and a free drink. He also pushed Southwest into the kind of huge airports it once spurned, such as Denver and Philadelphia.

Now it needs the big Eastern cities to buttress its service at Chicago’s Midway Airport, Southwest’s second-busiest hub, with more than 200 daily flights.

Despite the notorious delays in New York, Southwest officials believe they can turn around incoming planes in 30 minutes, close to its nationwide average. That’s important because Southwest keeps costs down by getting the most use out of its planes — on average, they make six flights and spend 12 hours in the air each day.

The New York-Chicago route pits Southwest against long-standing rivals American and United, which have many more daily flights between the two cities.

Southwest officials brag about forcing competitors to cut fares. In 1993, government analysts called this phenomenon "The Southwest Effect." Fare experts say Southwest still strongly influences ticket prices in markets it enters.

Rick Seaney, chief executive of FareCompare.com, studied fares in Denver before and after Southwest returned to the market in January 2006. He said United, then the dominant carrier there, cut its average cheapest round-trip fare out of Denver by one-third in the first year after Southwest said it would serve the same airport.

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The commercial was a LONG way from Budweiser Clydesdales and Dalmatians.

The plot: A guy stops by a convenience store to pick up a six-pack of Bud Light — as well as lip gloss, batteries and a pornographic magazine. Things quickly go downhill. A cute girl walks up — "Jim? Jim Scott? I haven’t seen you since prom!" — and is instantly scandalized. Jim tries to beat a hasty retreat but is taken hostage by a pistol-wielding robber. TV crews show up, identifying him by name as the "local porno buyer."

You won’t see the ad on TV. Not in this lifetime. Anheuser-Busch, maker of Bud Light, couldn’t get this ad past the network censors, even if it wanted to do so. (It doesn’t.)

Instead, the ad was made to live only on the Web. Quietly unveiled in February after the Super Bowl, "Magazine Buyer" was a "secret" spot, available at first only to viewers who had text-messaged Anheuser-Busch and then logged on to BudBowl.com.

The commercial is a prime example of how companies are using the Web to venture into edgier territory as they try to grab the attention of elusive and increasingly distracted consumers.

The loose, largely unregulated ethos of the Web allows mainstream brands like Bud Light — America’s bestselling beer, backed up by $500 million in measured advertising over three years — to try racier content.

"There are many more vehicles available to advertisers which accept advertisements that push to the edge, if not go off the edge of a cliff," said Dan Howard, professor of marketing at Southern Methodist University.

Numerous big advertisers have used the Internet to explore the boundaries of good taste. In 2006, electric razor maker Philips rolled out a website called shaveeverywhere.com. The site encourages "male bodygrooming," i.e., shaving … but not the face.

Anheuser-Busch has been evaluating its ability to push the envelope online as a way to build buzz among a target audience. For Bud Light, that’s guys ages roughly 21-27.

One Internet-only ad from 2007 portrays "Scott" seeking forgiveness for making a naughty video with a lady friend, and then selling it to a chain of video stores to pay for lap dances. Scott resolves the situation by getting a robot named "Apology-Bot 3000" to deliver a Bud Light to the lady.

But a Bud Light commercial called "Swear Jar" may be the granddaddy of all Internet-only ads. The plot: Office workers have to pay a quarter for every curse word, with the proceeds going to pay for Bud Light. The result: rampant and ferocious — albeit bleeped-out — cursing.

The commercial swiftly went "viral" after its 2007 launch. It has been viewed more than 12 million times on the Web, a level of exposure that a lot of TV advertisers would love to have.

Rather than passively watching, Web surfers seek out or make a decision to click on an online video. Advertisers covet that engagement.

"You’ve got to go on the Internet and look for that ad, find it and then watch it," said Howard payday loans lenders. "Who’s going to do that? People who want to, who have heard it’s a great commercial."

Keith Levy, Anheuser-Busch’s vice president of marketing, said in a statement that the "Magazine Buyer" spot carried on the company’s tradition of sending outrageous humor onto the Internet.

A-B tested the "Magazine Buyer" concept extensively to make sure adult consumers appreciated the humor, Levy said.

Apparently, they did. Even though the video began its life as a "secret" spot on BudBowl.com — an A-B website that requires visitors to enter a birth date showing they are 21 or older — it quickly migrated to YouTube. It has been viewed more than 700,000 times.

Of course, testing the bounds of appropriateness doesn’t just happen on the Internet.

Hardee’s, which became infamous for ads featuring Paris Hilton washing a Bentley and another woman riding a mechanical bull, continues to use sexual innuendo. But Hardee’s, the St. Louis-based subsidiary of CKE Restaurants, is not alone. Quiznos’ TV commercials now make risqu

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BEIJING–China's planning agency is likely to reject a Chinese company's bid to acquire General Motors Corp.'s Hummer unit, in part because its gas-guzzling vehicles conflict with Beijing's conservation goals, state radio reported.

The National Development and Reform Commission is also likely to say Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp., a maker of construction machinery, lacks expertise to run Hummer, China National Radio said late Thursday. It cited no source.

Tengzhong said it has yet to reach a definitive agreement with GM, which the company said previously was required to make a formal request for government approval of the deal.

"Some people may have views and speculation but the Chinese government has a process that we respect," said a company statement. "We do not yet have a definitive agreement, but are developing our proposals with GM and Hummer and we will continue to engage with the appropriate authorities in an appropriate manner."

Employees who answered the phone at the NDRC referred questions to its foreign affairs office, where calls were not answered.

Hummers, which roar along on oversize tires and can weigh up to five tons, are based on U.S. military vehicles that gained fame during the 1991 Gulf War. But sales have been battered by soaring fuel prices paydayloan.

Tengzhong, based in the southwestern city of Chengdu, emerged as Hummer's surprise buyer this month after GM sought court protection from its creditors. The companies said the sale still required regulatory approval and refused to disclose the price.

Auto industry analysts questioned how Tengzhong, which makes construction vehicles such as cement mixers and tow trucks, could succeed with Hummer, known as "Han Ma," or Bold Horse, in China.

GM said the planned sale would save some 3,000 jobs in the United States. Tengzhong said it would invest in research to create more fuel-efficient Hummers and would keep Hummer's headquarters and manufacturing in the United States.

The Chinese government is trying to promote conservation and use of more fuel-efficient vehicles. It has cut sales taxes on cars with smaller engines and is encouraging automakers to develop electric and other alternative-energy vehicles.

Communist authorities are encouraging companies to expand abroad to diversify the economy but have cautioned against being too hasty or ambitious.

Tengzhong is privately owned, which means it is free of some of the controls on Chinese state-owned companies. But regulators still can block foreign acquisitions.

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After months of uncertainty, more than 800 Canadian employees of Nortel Networks Corp. can once again start thinking about their futures, albeit with a new company.

Nokia Siemens Networks said yesterday that it is committed to Canada and plans to continue employing about 800 Nortel workers in this country after it reached a deal late last week to buy Nortel’s wireless operations for $650 million (U.S.).

The deal is the first in a series of expected asset sales as the storied maker of telecommunications gear goes about breaking itself apart after failing to restructure under bankruptcy protection.

Shares of Nortel, which once traded as high as $124.50, were suspended yesterday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Simon Beresford-Wylie, chief executive officer of Nokia Siemens, said during a conference call that the joint venture between Finnish handset maker Nokia Corp. and Germany’s Siemens AG will retain about 2,500 Nortel workers, about one-third of whom are in Canada.

"We are committed to be in Canada for the long term to make sure that Canada remains at the forefront of wireless technologies," Beresford-Wylie said. He added that Nokia Siemens has "an interest in maintaining or even growing our presence in Canada" with a particular focus on Ottawa.

The deal will be financed with a $300 million loan from Export Development Canada, with analysts suggesting the financing required reassurances about keeping jobs in Canada.

However, Nokia Siemens doesn’t plan to take on Nortel’s pension obligations or other debt, according to Michael Matthews, the head of strategy and business development at Nokia Siemens Networks.

He said workers’ previous years of experience will be recognized under their contracts with their new employer.

At its zenith, Nortel employed more than 90,000 people around the globe, but the number has been cut over the years to about 30,000 affordable iowa health insurance quotes.

Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in January, citing high debt, high costs and the impact of the economic downturn. CEO Mike Zafirovski said at the time that he intended to restructure the company, but now appears to be in the process of selling the remainder of its assets.

"Maximizing the value of our businesses in the face of a consolidating global market has been our most critical priority," he said in a statement Friday.

"We have determined the best way to do this is to find buyers for our businesses who can carry Nortel innovation forward, while preserving employment to the greatest extent possible."

Analysts expect Nortel’s other business units to be sold soon.

"In just buying mobile assets, NSN appears to have ruled out buying Nortel’s optical and enterprise businesses," said Gareth Jenkins, an analyst at UBS Investment Research, in a note to clients.

Nortel also has a majority stake in a venture with South Korea’s LG Electronics.

Former Nortel CEO Frank Dunn and former Nortel CFO Doug Beatty, meanwhile, are appealing an Ontario Superior Court judge’s decision from earlier this year that dismissed their request for a declaration that they were entitled to be reimbursed for between 90 and 100 per cent of their legal expenses.

Chubb Insurance Co. rescinded its directors and officers liability coverage to Dunn and Beatty in 2003 on the basis of what it considered misrepresentations about class-action lawsuits launched by Nortel shareholders in 2001, after the company’s growth projections were scaled back drastically.

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NEW YORK — There’s a message for Detroit’s automakers in the new J.D. Power and Associates rankings: Good work. Now go back and do it again.

The marketing and consulting company’s closely watched annual study of vehicle quality, released Monday, found that Ford, General Motors and Chrysler made strides last year but still lag behind their foreign competitors.

At a time when Detroit is desperate to start turning out cars and trucks that people want to buy, the top two brands in the study were foreign cars: Lexus, Toyota’s luxury line; and Porsche. GM’s Cadillac finished third.

The survey measures mechanical and design problems that show up in the first 90 days of ownership. The 2009 models turned out by the Detroit Three improved by an average of 10 percent compared with an industry average of 8 percent.

Toyota, which overtook GM last year as the world’s biggest automaker, dominated. It swept 10 categories, and its plant in Japan that builds the Lexus SC 430 and Toyota Corolla took the award for top plant.

For GM, only two brands performed above average: Cadillac and Chevrolet. The four brands it is purging in bankruptcy — Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer and Saab — were also its worst rated.

"There are too many cars and not enough consumers," said Dave Sargent, vice president of automotive research at J cash advance.D. Power "For any vehicle that is lagging in quality … that’s a difficult position for them to be in."

Sargent said the quality of Detroit’s passenger cars is now roughly equal to foreign automakers’. And GM has several new, small cars on the way that analysts say should help it compete with established offerings from the likes of Toyota and Honda.

The road may be tougher for Chrysler. Cars like the sporty 500 made by its new owner, Italy’s Fiat Group SpA, won’t make it to the U.S. until late next year.

Chrysler’s scores improved from last year, and it claimed five of the 10 most improved vehicles. But all three of its brands — Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep — were below the industry average.

It did tie for one award: The PT Cruiser shared the top honor for compact activity vehicle with Honda’s CR-V. But Chrysler is discontinuing the Cruiser.

Ford Motor Co., the only one of the Detroit Three that has managed to stay out of bankruptcy, improved with three of its four brands: Ford, Mercury and Volvo. But the Lincoln’s score fell, and only Ford and Mercury performed above the industry average.

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Consumers are being advised to take any Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products back to retailers, where they will receive a full refund. Representatives from the Schnucks, Dierbergs and Shop ‘n Save chains say consumers won’t need receipts to receive the refund at their stores.

Not included in the recall: any Toll House cookie products that are already baked; any varieties of Toll House morsels, chocolate baking bars, or cocoa; or any Dryer’s and Edy’s brand ice cream products with Nestle Toll House cookie dough ingredients free business cards.

Consumers with questions are asked to contact Nestle consumer services at 1-800-559-5025.

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some rays of hope for the unemployed. Can the recovery last? Most important: Where are the jobs?

Get the answers when Anderson Cooper and Ali Velshi host our panel of experts and check in on virtual town halls across the country.

Thursday, June 18 at 8p.m. ET

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Diversified dollars: 7 corporate programs

The federal government aims at spend 23% of its procurement dollars with small businesses. Private-sector enterprises have their own earmarking programs; here’s a look at efforts at seven major companies.

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Ask & Answer

• Advertising vs. PR: What pays off?
• Discounts and referrals: What works now
• Breaking up the family business
• How to get your video game into retail stores
• How to keep laid-off workers honest

SECAUCUS, N.J.

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some rays of hope for the unemployed. Can the recovery last? Most important: Where are the jobs?

Get the answers when Anderson Cooper and Ali Velshi host our panel of experts and check in on virtual town halls across the country.

Thursday, June 18 at 8p.m. ET

NEW YORK (Fortune) — No one said selling a regulatory reform package would be easy.

As a case in point, consider the Office of Thrift Supervision. The OTS, a branch of the Treasury that was established 20 years ago to supervise savings-and-loans, would be eliminated in the oversight overhaul the Obama administration outlined Wednesday.

The Obama plan would streamline regulation by merging the OTS with another banking regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which supervises national banks.

The administration would also do away with the federal thrift charter that the OTS enforces. This is being done to reduce so-called regulatory arbitrage — in which banks shop for the most lenient overseer.

"The fragility of thrifts has become readily apparent during the financial crisis," the government said in one of the five fact sheets it issued Wednesday to explain its approach. "Eliminating the thrift charter is one of the most important steps towards a more prudent, efficient financial regulatory system."

Given OTS’s poor reputation, you wouldn’t think the proposal would stir much interest, let alone opposition. Many outsiders say the OTS typifies the shortcomings of the current setup, in which regulators are "captured" by their subjects.

OTS was the regulator for many of the high-profile financial casualties of the past year — including IndyMac, Countrywide, Washington Mutual and even AIG (AIG, Fortune 500). Its acting director was put on leave in March as Treasury reviewed the agency’s actions in an accounting scandal at IndyMac just two months before it failed faxless cash advance.

Yet while the banking industry took pains Wednesday to support the broad outlines of the Obama plan, it became clear it has concerns about numerous details — such as doing away with the OTS.

"If the OTS and the OCC merge, at a minimum, the federal thrift charter should still survive and be subject to supervision and regulation by a separate division within the OCC," the Independent Community Bankers Association said in a statement.

The bankers say eliminating OTS would wipe out a culture that understands the needs of small thrifts, which are obliged to channel most of their lending to housing-related activities.

"The vast majority of OTS-regulated thrifts have done a great job supporting housing," said Chris Cole, senior regulatory counsel at the ICBA. "We think the merger could have some impact on housing lending."

Needless to say, anything that helps to make more money available for mortgages at a time when home prices in many markets are in free fall is likely to have some appeal in Congress. Bankers have taken note.

"If we want to make housing a national priority, we need to keep issues like this in mind," said American Bankers Association spokesman Wayne Abernathy.

There are also questions about whether the OCC is the right agency to take over supervising small thrifts, given its current brief of overseeing larger national banks.

"Losing the OTS would be a mistake," said Jim Wheeler, a financial institutions partner at law firm Bryan Cave in Atlanta. "What Bank of America has in common with the S&L on the corner is nothing. They don’t even speak the same language."

Others go even further, noting that the OCC can match the OTS bank for bank when it comes to problems. The OCC was the regulator for Wachovia and National City, which were sold in distress to Wells Fargo (WFC, Fortune 500) and PNC (PNC, Fortune 500), as well as for Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), which soldier on thanks to hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidy.

And of course, no banking overseer looks particularly good after the collapse of the biggest housing bubble in history — which bankers say underscores the need to move carefully on regulatory reform.

"There’s a need to make changes, but there’s also a need to take the time to get it right," Abernathy said. "This crisis shows us the danger of making bad mistakes."  

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