Banking Lobby Faces 'Serious Problems' in Washington: Barney Frank

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Banks face "serious problems" in Washington in the coming Congress, according to Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), stepping down after a more than 30-year tenure in the House of Representatives.

Frank, one of the key legislators behind the contentious 2010 Dodd-Frank financial services reform legislation when he led the House Financial Services Committee, was referring to Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R., Texas), who will take over leadership of the committee when the 113th Congress begins in 2013. Hensarling will replace Rep. Spencer Bachus (R., Ala.), who has already served the maximum six years he is permitted as either chairman or ranking minority member of a committee under Republican party rules.

Frank called Hensarling "very very far to the right and I don't think sustainable," in an interview with Bloomberg television over the weekend.

"I don't think the people in the financial community would be very happy if he was making policy with regard to the Federal Reserve -- with regard to international cooperation with regard to international financial institutions. So I think they're going to have some serious problems there, including by the way I read people in the financial community -- Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon -- who say 'Yeah we need some regulation.' They don't agree with all of it. I think he is a throwback to the days of irresponsibility."

A call to Hensarling's office wasn't returned. A spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase(JPM) where Dimon is Chairman and CEO, declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Goldman Sachs(GS) , where Blankfein serves those roles, did not respond to an email inquiry.

Frank was also sharply critical of the Financial Services Roundtable, a bank lobbying organization whose membership includes many of the largest U.S. financial services companies, including Bank of America(BAC) , Citigroup(C) , and JPMorgan.