“Those in the U.S. financial community who are supporting these efforts to block resources and appointments are looking for leverage over the rules still being written,” Mr. Geithner said.

Image Credit... The New York Times

He specifically focused on derivatives rule-writing, where some financial groups have complained that European rules may differ from the new rules in the United States. He said he hoped regulators in Europe and Asia would create standardized rules to prevent a “race to the bottom.”

Regulators in the United States overseeing the process say it is difficult to tell how many of the concerns that financial executives and their lobbyists raise are valid and which ones are exaggerated.

“For us, it’s a question of figuring out the legitimate interests of folks who say, ‘Wait a minute, slow down’ because they really want us to get it right, and some of them who really have an ulterior motive of just running the clock out,” said Bart Chilton, one of the three Democratic commissioners of the commodities futures trading agency, which is overseeing most rule-writing for derivatives. “It’s going a lot slower than I had envisioned.”

Financial firms argue that slower deliberations may lead to smarter outcomes. Some lawmakers agree, and some voted in recent weeks in Congressional committees to delay derivatives rules at least a year. Many of those rules were to have been completed by the July anniversary of the Dodd-Frank bill.

Regulators have been swamped by public comments and asked for more funds and personnel to meet the demands. In April, the C.F.T.C. extended all of its derivative comment periods for a month.