The American Bankers Association released a statement on Wednesday that said the accounting change would present “significant problems, not only for banks, but also the general economy. If implemented, the proposal would greatly undermine the availability of credit by making it difficult to make many long-term loans, the value of which, even if performing perfectly, would likely be reduced on the day a loan is made.”

Image Robert H. Herz, the chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, said fair asset value had to be reflected. Credit... Mike Theilier/Reuters

But officials with the accounting board say the changes would bolster investor confidence by requiring the banks to more quickly recognize their losses.

Investors complained to the group that the old set of rules did not “faithfully represent the underlying economics,” said Robert H. Herz, the chairman of the accounting board. “The financial crisis reinforced the need for better accounting in this area.”

The proposed changes now enter a comment period that will last until the end of September. The board plans to hold a round a hearings on them in the fall. It will then make final revisions, which will take into account a similar set of rules being proposed by the International Accounting Standards Board.

The proposal is the latest in a series of efforts to tighten up banking regulation and improve financial transparency in the wake of the crisis. Congress is weeks away from passing a sweeping overhaul of financial regulation, affecting products as varied as derivatives and debit cards.

Federal regulators, meanwhile, are adopting a more aggressive posture after being criticized sharply by lawmakers for failing to prevent the crisis through enforcement.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has been attacked by Congress, too. Last March, members of the House Financial Services Committee pressed the group to relax its rules in order to loosen credit and make loans more widely available. When the board did so, critics said it had caved to pressure from politicians and banks, which could suddenly paint a rosier picture of their financial condition.