US Treasury's Barr: regulatory system a failure

WASHINGTON Dec 9 (Reuters) - The current U.S. financial regulatory system urgently needs overhaul because it was a dismal failure in warding off the current financial crisis, a senior U.S. Treasury department official said on Wednesday.

"There is no debating that our current system is designed for failure," the Treasury's assistant secretary for financial institutions, Michael Barr, said in a luncheon address. "And fail it did."

Barr said the Obama administration's push for a complete regulatory overhaul has reached "a critical time" and said it appeared to have a reasonable chance of getting approval.

"We have a chance to achieve fundamental reform to better protect responsible consumers of all financial products and services," he said. (Reporting by Glenn Somerville; Editing by Andrea Ricci)