WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is asking bank executives to support his efforts to tighten the financial industry, while bankers are prepared to tell the president he should stop oversimplifying their concerns if he wants good-faith collaboration.

An hour-long meeting between the president and the nation's top financial firms was shaping up to be a tense White House encounter today, not least because of Obama's description of bankers on the eve of the talks as "fat cats."

Administration officials described the meeting as a continuation of discussions the president initiated early in his tenure and the latest push for lenders to take greater responsibility as the nation combats an economic crisis that began on Wall Street.

Specifically: Wall Street should fall in line with Obama and back a proposal for a consumer protection agency that cleared the House last week.

"I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street," Obama told CBS's "60 Minutes" in an interview that broadcast Sunday.

Financial industry officials braced for Obama's tough tone. They planned to press a conciliatory message and highlight areas where they agree with the administration while smoothing over their differences.

But the executives also planned to stand up to the president on issues where they feel his statements oversimplify their positions — particularly the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency — according to people familiar with their thinking who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the plans.

"He can say what he wants, but we're not going to go back to the kind of lending that put us in this mess," said a person who is helping prepare executives for the meeting. A dozen executives were on the list of those coming, from Goldman Sachs, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of America, Citigroup, U.S. Bancorp, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and more.

A leading Obama aide, David Axelrod, said today the faceoff with the industry has been needed.

He said Obama's message will be, "You guys were part of the problem. You helped create an economic crisis ... but now you have to be part of the solution and you have to accelerate lending to credible small businesses."