U.S. regulators worried that banks and brokerage firms remaintoo dependent on risky types of short-term funding are weighing newrules designed to reduce reliance on parts of what is often calledthe shadow banking system.

Now the SEC is weighing new funding rules for brokers as well asa limit on leverage similar to those used by the Federal Reserveand other regulators for banks, according to a regulatory documentand SEC officials familiar with the matter.

The initiatives are aimed at financing tools such as repurchaseagreements, or repos, that were relied on by Bear Stearns Cos. andLehman Brothers Holdings Inc. until their failures accelerated the2008 financial crisis. Lehman's bankruptcy provoked criticism ofthe Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for lax oversight ofinvestment banks.