Judd Gregg, the new chief executive officer of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, said congressional control over the Federal Reserve would lead to “economic ruin.”

Gregg, a former U.S. senator, is concerned about the perception that “the Federal Reserve is in some way a threat to the underpinnings of the American prosperity” and the notion that Congress should take control of the Federal Open Market Committee, he said today during an interview.

“The idea that Congress would have any influence at all over the money supply is the fastest road we could take to economic ruin,” Gregg, 66, said at Bloomberg News headquarters in New York.

Gregg was named CEO of Sifma, Wall Street’s largest lobbying group, on May 20, replacing Tim Ryan, who left for JPMorgan Chase & Co. this year. The New Hampshire Republican retired from the Senate in 2011, and has also been an adviser to New York-based Goldman Sachs Group Inc.