WASHINGTON — The president of the World Bank said yesterday he opposes giving more authority to the U.S. Federal Reserve, arguing instead that the Treasury Department is better equipped to manage financial crises.

Robert Zoellick also suggested in a speech that the dollar's role as the world's reserve currency may be diminishing and the United States should recognize this fact.

Zoellick, a former high-ranking U.S. government official and investment banker, said, "It will be difficult to vest the independent and powerful technocrats at the Federal Reserve with more authority."

He said the lesson he drew from the global financial meltdown and ensuing credit crunch "is that the Treasury Department needed greater authority to pull together a bevy of different regulators."

In addition, he said, Treasury as a part of the executive branch would be subject to greater oversight by Congress and the American public if given additional authority.

FDIC CONSIDERS ORDERING BANKS TO PREPAY FEES

WASHINGTON — The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. may take the unprecedented step of ordering banks to prepay about $36 billion in premiums to replenish the deposit insurance fund, which has been severely depleted by a rash of bank failures.

The FDIC board likely will call for "prepaid" bank insurance premiums at its public meeting yesterday to discuss the issue, three industry executives and a government official said. The banking industry prefers that option over a special emergency fee — which would be the second this year.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had yet to be made public.

It would be the first time the FDIC has required prepaid insurance fees. Under the plan, banks would have to pay in advance their insurance premiums for 2010-2012, bringing in about $12 billion for each of the three years, two of the executives said.