WASHINGTON — The House Financial Services Committee will hold aseries of hearings on regulation of the financial services industryand of financial markets, Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) announcedtoday.

The sessions are scheduled to begin in July and will featureTreasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman BenS. Bernanke and other policymakers and regulators. They will focuson existing proposals, such as the regulatory overhaul proposed byPaulson in the Treasury Blueprint. That proposal has raisedconcerns among credit unions, which fear their existence could bejeopardized if they are placed under the same regulator asbanks.

Frank said the hearings will help lawmakers learn how to measureand limit risk, without stifling innovation.

“As the extraordinary measures utilized to respond to the BearSterns crisis demonstrated, we have failed to develop a regulatorysystem with the reach and capacity to protect the system againstthe large risks embedded in our increasingly interconnectedmarkets. These hearings are designed to focus on identifying howmuch reach and what new capacities are needed to avoid–or respondto–the next crisis, Frank said in a statement.