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Bernanke said making the results public ended up bolstering confidence in the financial system, an important part of the healing process at the time. In light of that, Bernanke said the Fed will continue to examine options for increasing the information that bank supervisors make public.

WASHINGTON -- Regulators must do all they can to help banks make loans to creditworthy borrowers, especially small businesses, a development that's critical to strengthening the economic recovery, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said today.

It's a delicate dance for the Fed and other banking regulators. As regulators encourage banks to make loans to sound borrowers, they are also working to make sure banks get back on firmer footing after suffering through the worst financial and economic crises since the 1930s.

"Our message is a simple one: institutions should strive to meet the needs of creditworthy borrowers, and the supervisory agencies should do all they can to help, not hinder, those efforts," Bernanke said in remarks prepared for a banking conference in Chicago.

"We are also supporting efforts to work with troubled borrowers to bring them back into good standing," he added.

Getting credit to flow more normally again to both people and businesses is an important ingredient to helping the fledging economic recovery gain momentum. Improvements have been made but problems still remain.

Ordinary Americans -- trying to pare their debt and rebuild their finances -- have shown a weak appetite to take out new loans.

However, many lawmakers on Capitol Hill have complained about small businesses wanting to take out loans but have trouble getting them. And, that has crimped their ability to expand operations and hire. Small businesses usually help drive job creation during recoveries, but credit clogs have hurt hiring.

Bernanke said officials at regional Fed banks across the country are meeting with small business owners and community bankers to talk about the problems and how to remedy them.

Earlier this year, the Fed and other banking regulators made a joint plea to banks to work on improving lending to creditworthy small businesses. That's an important goal for the Obama administration, too.

Even though credit remains tight, Bernanke said he sees some reasons for optimism.

"Economic activity has continued to strengthen. And, senior loan officers tell us that, at least outside of commercial real estate, they anticipate a modest reduction in their troubled loans over the coming year," Bernanke said.

"As a result, bank attitudes toward lending may be shifting," he said.

Last year, the Fed conducted "stress tests" on how the nations 19 largest banks would perform if economic conditions worsened. The Fed made the results public, departing from a long-held practice of keeping bank exam information confidential.