Overhaul Targets Money Market

Some analysts expressed concern about the uncertainties involved with the government launching far-reaching "new rules of the road," as Geithner called his proposals.

Regulatory overreach is a concern, said Schwab's Sonders. "History is littered with post-crisis regulations," she said. "If there are undue restrictions on the operations of businesses, they may view it to be their job to get around them, and you sow the seeds of the next crisis."

But perhaps a regime of simpler and better-enforced rules would help coax investors back into investing some of the cash they have stockpiled on the sidelines. The stock market's rally over the past three weeks has tempted some money back into stocks, but investors' crisis of confidence has not yet lifted, Sonders said.

"It's better than it was last fall, but is it fully repaired? No," she said, "not even close. There's a fear factor in this environment that truly is unprecedented, because the land mines appear to be everywhere."

Michael Herbst, a mutual fund analyst with the Morningstar investment research company, said the industry could benefit from greater transparency regarding riskier financial instruments such as derivatives and credit-default swaps.

"It would enable the individual investor and adviser to make better-informed decisions," he said.

But he warned that overhauling the rules is not without risk. "If the government appears too heavy-handed or uninformed, they could actually spook investors worse."