The Comptroller of the Currency said Monday that it is "premature" for non-bank financial entities to expect an exemption from proposed new safeguards governing capital requirements.

John Dugan also offered broad support for proposed legislation aimed at overseeing institutions deemed "too big to fail," though he said changes are required to balance equity and creditor losses with appropriate government oversight.

He made his comments to reporters before a speech to the American Bankers' Association in Chicago.

Large companies with substantial non-bank financial arms, notably General Electric Co. (GE), have lobbied hard to secure exemptions from some of the proposed rules, which could require them to hold more capital or possibly even force them to shed their financial units.

GE executives have said they are confident that GE's ownership of its GE Capital financing arm will be "grandfathered" under any new regulations, meaning it wouldn't be required to shed the unit.

"We are opposed to a forced separation," GE Capital spokesman Russell Wilkerson said in an interview Monday.

He said GE's confidence regarding the issue stems in part from supportive comments from a number of top government officials--such as U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the influential chairman of the House Financial Services Committee--over the past few months. He also said lawmakers recognize that non-bank lenders didn't cause the financial crisis and are an important source of capital for the economy.

Still, Dugan said Monday that the government needs to have "tools" to monitor the impact on the financial system of bank and non-bank entities.

"I think it's premature to predict how Congress is going to end up on any of these issues," Dugan said.

GE's Wilkerson said that, aside from forced separation, GE isn't necessarily opposed to new regulations and is taking a wait-and-see approach to proposals.

"We know that more regulation is coming," Wilkerson said. "We support regulation [and] we understand the need for it."

Dugan reiterated that he is against any absolute caps on the size of companies that would be subject to new capital rules, citing the need for critical mass in some sectors as well as the wish to avoid deterring overseas companies operating in the U.S.

In his remarks, Dugan was expected to note that, while there were early signs of an improvement in the retail lending environment, events on the commercial side were deteriorating. He has in the past expressed particular concern about the commercial real estate sector.

New rules governing work-outs in soured commercial property deals are "imminent," he said, and would contain "specific and concrete" examples to assist resolution.

-By Doug Cameron, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4135; doug.cameron@dowjones.com

(Bob Sechler contributed to this article.)