President Barack Obama said Thursday that banks are using new financial regulations as an "excuse" to impose fees on consumers, while saying there isn't anything the government can do to stop them.

"People have been using financial regulation as an excuse to charge consumers more," Obama said at a White House news conference. He used the issue to urge the Senate to confirm Richard Cordray, his nominee to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying that providing the public with more transparency on prices and practices will put competitive pressure on financial institutions.

Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, and rivals including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and SunTrust Banks Inc., are rolling out new charges for debit-card users as new rules take effect this month. The banks point to a provision in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that limits the maximum "swipe fee" that merchants pay per transaction to 21 cents, down from an average of 44 cents.

"Basically, the argument they've made is, well you know what, this hidden fee was prohibited, so we'll find another fee to make up for it," Obama said. "Now, they have that right, but it's not a good practice. It's not necessarily fair to consumers."

Obama stepped back from an answer he gave Oct. 3 in an interview with ABC News and Yahoo. When asked then whether he could stop Bank of America's $5 debit-card service charge, he said, "You can stop it because it - if you - if you say to the banks, 'You don't have some inherent right just to - you know, get a certain amount of profit.' "

Obama said Thursday that the government doesn't have a right to dictate how much profit a bank makes. Still, he said, the bank charges demonstrate the need to install Cordray to lead the financial watchdog agency.

"What the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau could do is to make sure that consumers understood exactly what they were getting, exactly what was happening," the president said.

Bank of America has defended its fees as necessary to maintain its debit card system in the face of regulations that have eaten into its revenues.

"Over the last two years, we have been more committed than ever before to being clear and transparent with our customers to help ensure they know exactly what they are getting and how much it costs," bank spokeswoman Anne Pace said in a statement Thursday. For example, she said, the bank eliminated most overdraft fees, deciding to decline transactions instead of imposing the fees.

On Wednesday, CEO Brian Moynihan countered Obama's comments from earlier in the week.

"I have an inherent duty as a CEO of a publicly owned company to get a return for my shareholders," Moynihan told CNBC. He said customers would understand that the bank has "a right to make a profit."

Bank of America's stock closed at $6.28 on Thursday, up nearly 9 percent from the day before. After staying below $6 since Monday afternoon, the price rose quickly Thursday morning before stabilizing.

Still, the stock is down nearly 60 percent for the year, dragged down by legal troubles and losses stemming from the bank's 2008 purchase of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp.

Cordray's nomination to oversee the consumer protection bureau cleared the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. The action sets up a showdown with Republicans vowing to block any nominee until changes are made in the structure and funding of the new agency, created by the Dodd-Frank Act. Staff writer Andrew Dunn contributed.