Obama threatens financial industry executives if they don't stop lobbying congress

This is the transcript from Obama's remarks yesterday.

Now, I should note that around the table all the financial industry executives said they supported financial regulatory reform. The problem is there's a big gap between what I'm hearing here in the White House and the activities of lobbyists on behalf of these institutions or associations of which they're a member up on Capitol Hill. I urged them to close that gap, and they assured me that they would make every effort to do so.

In the end, my interest isn't in vilifying any one person or institution or industry; it's not to dictate to them or micromanage their compensation practices to ensure that consumers and -- my job is to ensure that consumers and the larger economy are protected from risky speculation and predatory practices, that credit is flowing, that businesses can grow, and jobs are once again being created at the pace we need. . . .

What Obama's arm twisting obtained:

The executives pledged during a White House meeting with President Barack Obama that they would personally intervene on behalf of the legislation.

Some of the CEOs said their lobbyists had taken stronger stands than they would have wanted, an assertion met with raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D, Mass.), chief architect of financial-overhaul legislation in that chamber, said in an interview he was "highly skeptical."

The gathering permitted Mr. Obama to deliver his criticism of Wall Street directly to executives from American Express Co., U.S. Bancorp, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Capital One Financial Corp., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Bank of America Corp., State Street Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. . . .