Key Republicans reject Dodd's consumer agency plan

WASHINGTON Feb 27 (Reuters) - Key Republican members of the Senate Banking committee rejected its chairman's proposal to place a consumer protection agency within the Treasury Department, sources familiar with the situation said on Saturday.

In an attempt to garner Republican support, Senate banking chairman Christopher Dodd proposed making a consumer financial protection agency a division of Treasury instead of an independent agency.

But the panel's top Republican, Richard Shelby, and fellow Republican Bob Corker have rejected Dodd's proposal as a non-starter, the sources said. Their rejection is a setback for Dodd, who is trying to craft a bipartisan bill to reform financial regulation.

(Reporting by Rachelle Younglai, editing by Philip Barbara)