House panel eyes bill on unwinding firms: aides

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Legislation to improve U.S. government handling of failing large firms that are not banks, like AIG, is being developed by a key House of Representatives committee and may come to a vote soon, aides said on Monday.

In a sign Congress is moving fast on President Barack Obama's top financial regulation reform priority, a bill to create a process for unwinding failing nonbank firms is among the measures likely to come before the House Financial Services Committee for a possible vote on March 31, aides said.

The agenda for the committee's March 31 session could change and other items may be scheduled for consideration, they said, as Congress scrambles to respond to the worst U.S. financial crisis in generations amid a deep recession.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is slated to testify on the principles of the Obama administration's regulatory reform agenda to the same committee on Thursday.

Obama is expected to carry those principles to a summit of world leaders in London on April 2, where reform of financial regulation is expected to be a major topic.

(Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh; Editing by Neil Stempleman)