Bernanke: Lack of oversight worsened crisis

The Federal Reserve needs to focus just as heavily on its regulatory role as its monetary policy operations, Chairman Ben Bernanke stressed Friday.

That's the lesson that the Fed chairman took away from the Great Recession. "Going forward, for the Federal Reserve as well as other central banks, the promotion of financial stability must be on an equal footing with the management of monetary policy as the most critical policy priorities," Bernanke said.

Speaking at a conference in New York, Bernanke focused largely on historical events leading up to the recent financial crisis and the central bank's response to it.

Source: Annalyn Censky CNNMoney