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The United States treasury has announced an overhaul of its financial regulatory structure in the wake of the US mortgage crisis.

The new system is said to strengthen consumer protections; improve tools for market stability; and enhance financial innovation.

Treasury secretary Henry Paulson Jr said the revised structure will be more flexible so that it can respond better to changes in the market.

The treasury described the current system as not serving America "as well as it could" and said modernisation was "inevitable".

"It has been largely knit together over the last 75 years, put into place for particular reasons at different times and in response to circumstances that may no longer exist," a statement said this afternoon.

Short-term recommendations for modernisation include improvements to regulatory coordination and oversight that regulators can make quickly.

"We should and can have a structure that is designed for the world we live in, one that is more flexible, one that can better adapt to change, one that will allow us to more effectively deal with inevitable market disruptions and one that will better protect investors and consumers," said Mr Paulson.

"The challenge is to evolve to a more flexible, efficient and effective regulatory framework – and that is the purpose of this blueprint."