A top bank regulator Thursday called for changes to the administration’s proposal for a systemic risk council and called for an even stronger regime to resolve failing complex financial firms.

Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said the systemic risk council should be headed by a presidential appointee, not the secretary of the Treasury, to prevent excessive political influence.

Bair, in prepared remarks to be delivered before a Senate panel, also said Congress needs to eliminate the possibility of open assistance for individual failing entities, so that financial companies are deterred from getting too large and complex.