WASHINGTON (AFP) –
A key US House of Representatives panel voted Thursday to create a government agency to defend consumers from abuses by financial institutions partly blamed for sparking the global economic crisis.

US President Barack Obama cheered the 39-29 vote by the House Financial Services Committee as a clear victory for guarding Americans against predatory lending and giving them clear information about credit cards and mortgages.

"The creation of the agency is part of a broader regulatory reform effort that we are working on with Congress to bring a new sense of responsibility and accountability to our financial system," Obama said in a statement.

Obama's Republican foes mostly oppose the measure, while his Democratic allies mostly favor the new agency, which must now clear the full House of Representatives and the Senate before the president can sign it into existence.

"While there is more work ahead, today we are much closer to putting in place strict new rules of the road for the financial industry," said US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Obama has made creation of the agency a key plank of his plans to overhaul the rules of the US financial system, ground zero for the global economic meltdown of 2008.

Under industry pressure, however, the committee carved out exemptions for a range of financial players.