A year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, US President Barack Obama urged financial firms not to fight regulatory reform and called on Congress to pass his proposals by the end of the year.

In Monday's speech, Obama said while the economy and the financial system were showing signs of recovery, he wanted to emphasize that "normalcy cannot lead to complacency."

US President Barack Obama said, "Unfortunately, there are some in the financial industry who are misreading this moment. Instead of learning the lessons of Lehman and the crisis from which we are still recovering, they are choosing to ignore them."

In marking his determination to prevent a repeat of the crisis that nearly brought down the global financial system, Obama says he is attacking the problem on several broad fronts, including asking Congress to approve new rules to protect consumers and a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to enforce those rules.

But many of the provisions are bogged down in Congress, possibly delaying reforms until 2010 or resulting in a watered-down package.

(CCTV September 15, 2009)