Obama to give speech on financial crisis Monday

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will give a speech about the financial crisis on Monday in New York, marking the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the White House said on Thursday.

The fall of Lehman last year triggered a worldwide financial crisis and accelerated Obama's race to the presidency as the Democrat's cool reaction to the country's economic problems contrasted with a more scattered response from his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain.

Obama made financial regulatory reform a key platform of his candidacy and is trying to push through Congress legislative measures on the issue as president.

"He will discuss the aggressive steps the administration has taken to bring the economy back from the brink (and) the commitment to winding down the government's role in the financial sector," the White House said in a statement about the speech.

Actions the United States and other nations around the world must take to prevent "a crisis like this from ever happening again" would also feature in the speech, the statement said.

Lehman, once the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, filed for bankruptcy protection on September 15, 2008, in the largest U.S. bankruptcy filing in history.

Obama's speech will take place at midday in New York City's Federal Hall.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Ross Colvin, Editing by Stacey Joyce)