White House to Propose Big Reserves at Banks

By ERIC DASH

Many banks are finally back on their feet. The question now is how to keep them there for good.

So after propping up lenders with billions of taxpayer dollars, the Obama administration is contemplating long-term measures aimed at preventing, or at least minimizing, any future financial crisis.

The thrust of the plan is to have banks, particularly those deemed too big to fail, maintain larger capital cushions — a move bankers have traditionally opposed because it eats into their profits. The Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, is expected to outline the administration’s proposals Thursday in a letter to the finance ministers of the Group of 20 industrial and emerging nations, who are scheduled to meet in London this week.