OECD applauds Obama bank reforms

President Barack Obama's plan to limit banks' size and risky trading habits could help to avoid a new financial crisis, the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Tuesday.

Obama's plan, outlined last week, would bar the biggest banks from proprietary trading _ when banks use their own money to make high-risk bets. If those bets go bad and a bank goes under, taxpayers could be on the hook.

By separating core commercial banking from such higher-risk activities, the plan "could help to avoid a new financial crisis by resolving some major risk inherent to the …