LONDON (AP) — Britain's government yesterday proposed giving new powers to financial regulators, improving coordination among agencies and toughening penalties for misconduct — moves intended to avert a repeat of the crisis that threatened to bring down many of the country's major banks.

The banking industry welcomed the measures, but opposition politicians said they did not go far enough.

Treasury chief Alastair Darling said legislation would be introduced later this year to give the Financial Services Authority regulator stronger powers to deal with risks at banks, penalise misconduct and adapt quickly to developments in the financial sector.

But, as expected, Darling ruled out changing Britain's three-way "tripartite" regulatory structure, which shares power among the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority and the Treasury.

Darling also ruled out legislation to split up large and complex institutions, for instance by separating retail banking from riskier investment banking.

"I believe this is a simplistic solution, and fails to take into account the complexity of today's financial system," he said.

Opposition legislators accused the government of putting off important decisions until after the next national election, likely to be nearly a year away. The government outlined its proposals in a "white paper," which formally proposes a legislative programme.

Vince Cable, an opposition Liberal Democrat legislator, said the white paper would be greeted by bankers "with a great sigh of relief, just another indication that we are getting back to business as usual".

The main opposition Conservative Party, which has a strong lead in opinion polls, has promised to abolish the tripartite structure and give more power to the Bank of England. Conservative Treasury spokesman George Osborne said the government had not acknowledged its own responsibility for the financial meltdown.

"The only admission of any kind of responsibility for what has happened is the sentence that says, 'The crisis has shown that aspects of prudential and macro-prudential supervision were insufficient'," Osborne said. "That is the understatement of the century when you have nationalised half of the British banking system."

Darling, the chancellor of the Exchequer, proposed creating a Council for Financial Stability, bringing together the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority and the Treasury.

"This will not just deal with immediate issues, but also monitor systemwide financial stability and respond to long-term risks as they emerge," Darling told the House of Commons.

The British Bankers' Association welcomed the proposal to improve coordination among agencies.

"Banking is a global business and reform needs to be thoughtfully handled so moves in the UK dovetail with those overseas ensuring the UK sector remains competitive. Otherwise business could move away," said Angela Knight, the association's chief executive.

The Association of British Insurers endorsed Darling's approach, but said there had been "serious failings" in the system.