The possibility of setting up a new financial consumer watchdog within the Federal Reserve was one of a range of options being discussed by members of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, sources said on Monday.

Democratic Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd and Senator Bob Corker, a Republican committee member, were talking about the Fed option, said lobbyists and a Senate aide.

Other options on the table in recent days have included putting a consumer watchdog in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Treasury Department or a new bank regulator that Dodd proposed in November but which has since lost support.

President Barack Obama first proposed in mid-2009 that an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency be created as part of a sweeping package of financial regulation reforms, but Republicans rejected that and Dodd is seeking a compromise.

(Reporting by Kevin Drawbaugh, Rachelle Younglai and Karey Wutkowski; Editing by Gary Hill)

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