Bernanke gets a grip.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress in October that the financial crisis has demonstrated the need for "systemically important" insurance companies to be subjected to federal controls.

In testimony before the House Financial Services Committee Oct. 1, he said such large insurers should be under the same consolidated supervision that currently applies only to bank holding companies.

While he did not mention the company by name, his comments about insurance companies pointed to American International Group, which was rescued with a government bailout last September.

While the Federal Reserve Board is "well suited" to the task of being the consolidated supervisor for systemically important nonbanks, a system for resolving large, troubled nonbanks such as insurers "analogous to the regime currently used by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation" is also needed, he said.