By Jennifer Liberto, senior writerJanuary 21, 2010: 3:09 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- President Obama on Thursday publicly signed on to a message that former Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker has been giving for a year: Let's limit the big banks.

Volcker, an economic adviser to Obama, joined the president in announcing new measures to narrow the size and scope of banks' investment activities.