U.S. lawmakers tasked with hammering out a final version of financial-reform legislation will use as a starting point a bill that combines mortgage reforms passed by the House and the Senate, according to a summary obtained by Reuters.

The base text to be used by the House-Senate conference committee largely reflects the bill passed by the Senate last month, according to the summary. But it folds in many restrictions on mortgage lending that were included in the bill passed by the House in December 2009.

The bill also directs the Federal Reserve to require financial firms to take into account the results of their stress tests and periodically update plans that map out how they would be dismembered if they run into trouble.

It also requires a new systemic risk council, tasked with spotting looming troubles in the financial industry, to consult with regulators outside the United States.

The bill apparently does not exempt auto dealers from a new consumer-protection authority, even though they were exempted in the House bill and the Senate passed a nonbinding resolution to exempt them as well.

Lawmakers on the conference committee will modify the base text over the coming weeks before settling on a final version for President Barack Obama to sign into law.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan and Kevin Drawbaugh)

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