Obama made his proposals on Thursday, saying he was ready to fight resistance from Wall Street banks he blamed for helping cause the global financial crisis. The plan would prevent banks from investing in, owning or sponsoring a hedge fund or private equity fund. It would set a new limit on banks' size in relation to the overall financial sector and, perhaps most dramatically, could also bar institutions from proprietary trading operations, which are unrelated to serving customers, for their own profit. Proprietary trading involves firms making bets on markets with their own money and has been the source of much of banks' bumper profits before and after the financial crisis. French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde welcomed the proposal, saying it was a "very, very good step forward."