WASHINGTON, March 26 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will talk about regulatory reform, risks to the financial system and executive bonuses when he meets top bankers on Friday, the White House said on Thursday. “Wall Street and Main Street, all of us, are in the same boat together,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters. He said Obama would receive an update from top bank chief executives “on precisely what they’re seeing” in the troubled financial sector. The Obama administration is ramping up efforts to reach out to the financial community to ensure its participation in government plans to stabilize the financial system. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is scheduled to meet Thursday evening with the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents the largest financial services firms.Geithner unveiled on Monday more details on the government’splan to cleanse banks’ balance sheets of up to $1 trillion in distressed assets, most of them tied to mortgages. Earlier on Thursday, Treasury released its plans for
regulatory reform, calling for broad changes to curb risk-takingon Wall Street, including a new regulator to oversee the entire financial system. The announcements came on the heels of an outpouring of public outrage over $165 million in bonuses being paid at troubled insurer American International Group (AIG.N), which has been propped up with up to $180 billion from taxpayers. Last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to claw back most of the AIG bonus money, making investors and banks wary of partnering with the government because of fears that the rules could later change. Goldman Sachs is prepared to pay back the U.S. government’s $10 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) investment as soon as allowed by regulators, a person familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

A growing number of financial firms that have received aid from the $700 billion TARP have said they plan to repay the
money after lawmakers tagged on restrictions involving executive pay and dividend policies. A White House official said earlier this week that Obama plans to “reiterate his belief that getting the economy back on track will require an understanding that each of us must look beyond our own short-term interests to the wider set of obligations we have to each other in order for America to succeed.” (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Karey Wutkowski; Editing by
Eric Walsh and Matthew Lewis)

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