Washington - US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke put himself at odds with President Barack Obama on Friday, criticizing a central plank of the administration's proposed financial regulatory overhaul.

Bernanke said he had reservations over the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which would strip powers from the US central bank to protect consumers from unfair or misleading practices by banks.

"I do think it important to point out some of the benefits that would be lost through this change," Bernanke said in testimony before the Financial Services Committee of the House of Representatives.

Bernanke said the Fed's own role as a monitor of risks to the banking industry gave it the best insights into how consumers should be protected.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner earlier Friday urged Congress to approve an overhaul of US financial regulation by the end of the year to help prevent Wall Street from plunging the global economy into another recession.

He defended the new consumer agency as necessary to protect homeowners that in many cases were duped into loans with high interest rates they could not afford. A record number of foreclosures has been largely blamed for causing the financial crisis.(dpa)