WASHINGTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commission said recent events have provided more evidence that better integration of financial service regulations, as proposed by the Treasury Department, may be long overdue.

The Treasury's 218-page Blueprint for a Modernized Financial Regulatory Structure would, as one its long-term goals, establish a new federal insured depository institution charter that would consolidate national banks, federal savings associations and federal credit union charters.

"Recent events have provided further evidence, if more were needed, that financial services regulation in the United States needs to be better integrated among fewer agencies, with clearer lines of responsibility," said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox in a statement.

Cox said that proposed consolidation of responsibility for investor protection and the regulation of financial products "deserves serious consideration as a way to better address the realities of today's markets."