Representatives of the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and Securities and Exchange Commission said they were working to coordinate their activities more closely with foreign governments and central banks and finding the way difficult at times

While there has been considerable progress already in strengthening the international financial system, "much more remains to be done," Mark Sobel, an acting assistant Treasury secretary, told a Senate Banking panel.

"Some of the flaws in our financial system and regulatory framework that allowed this crisis to occur, and in many ways helped to cause it, are still in place," Sobel said.

At a summit in Pittsburgh last week, leaders of the Group of 20 top economies vowed last week to submit their policies for the first time to a "peer review" from the other governments, with the International Monetary Fund monitoring the process.

They also moved toward setting limits on bankers' salaries and bonuses and toward requiring banks to hold larger capital reserves as a cushion. They also agreed to move toward a shift in IMF ownership, with China and other developing countries claiming a bigger voting stake.

And they promised to act to end imbalances that threaten world growth. Export-dominated countries like China and Japan would do more to encourage domestic consumption, European countries would do more to encourage investment and the debt-ridden United States would try to save more and reduce trade and budget deficits.

If the nations carry through on the pledges, it would amount to a far-reaching reordering of the world economic order. But the group stopped short of setting specific targets or putting in place any enforcement mechanisms.

"The conventional wisdom on international coordination is that at the summits, countries talk globally, but afterward they act locally," said Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh, chairman of the Banking subcommittee on security and international trade and finance. Bayh questioned whether despite the lofty G-20 rhetoric from Pittsburgh, the end result was a raft of "unenforceable vague standards."

Even as President Barack Obama pushes for tougher regulation of complex international financial institutions, his proposal to reinforce financial regulation at home appears bogged down in Congress.

Not only must the international community act to follow through on the G-20 commitments, but "each G-20 country must now intensify its effort to help ensure that these commitments are implemented at the national level," said Sobel, the Treasury official.

Federal Reserve Gov. Daniel K. Tarullo told the panel that different bankruptcy and banking regulations from country to country "may limit what can be achieved" in terms of moving toward international banking standards.

Furthermore, Tarullo said that deciding to expand the former Group of Eight nations formally to the G-20 for setting international economic policy does make the group better reflect today's world by bringing in developing economies like China's and India's.

It also might make it harder to reach consensus because of the larger membership, Tarullo said. He cited "some risk progress will get bogged down."

Securities and Exchange Commissioner Kathleen Casey told the panel that because money can move quickly through the interconnected global financial system "only collective regulatory action can be effective in fully addressing cross-border activity."

The financial crisis has revealed regulatory gaps and overlaps, Casey said, and "some market issues cannot be fully addressed without legislative action."