William C. Dudley, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, April 21, 2015
William C. Dudley, CEO and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, attends the Economic Club of New York Leadership Excellence Award presentation April 21, 2015. Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

BOSTON (Reuters) -- The U.S. is a long way from putting in place rules that will protect the financial system and economy from broad risks, due in part to the regulatory structure and to the difficulties of predicting the next crisis, a top Federal Reserve official said Saturday.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York CEO and President William C. Dudley, an influential Wall Street supervisor speaking at a conference in Boston, warned against hastily putting in place so-called macroprudential tools, which would go beyond regulating specific banks and firms and focus on the broader financial sector.

"While the use of macroprudential tools holds promise, we are a long way from being able to successfully use such tools in the United States," Dudley said in prepared remarks.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by James Dalgleish)