The outcome appears to rest on the impact of testimony of senior regulators at a final, and unusual, hearing on Tuesday.

According to a senior regulator, cooperation among hedge funds creates two kinds of fears.

This time, the Administration has been working closely with the senior regulators, promising them certain new powers in exchange for cooperation.

Experience Required "We are in a reasonably difficult period," a senior regulator said.

Several senior regulators have said they did not realize that the News Corporation would own virtually all the equity in the television stations.

In recent months, the nation's senior regulator of nationally chartered banks has been squirming from one crisis to another.

The meeting included senior regulators and people from leading banks.

But senior regulators say there is already significant momentum for the new approach, which is known as "early resolution assisted mergers."

Administration officials and senior regulators have been searching for ways to encourage banks to lend more money by easing existing standards.

Secondly intrusive demands from regulatory staff could be and were set aside after direct representations were made to senior regulators.