Financial Crisis Panel

The chief executive of Goldman Sachs will be among the first business leaders grilled by the bipartisan panel that Congress established to investigate the near meltdown of the nation's financial system.

Lloyd C. Blankfein will be questioned during the Jan. 13-14 inaugural hearing of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Congress established the 10-member commission to determine how the financial collapse happened and what could be done to prevent a recurrence.

"We will be taking the testimony from hundreds of individuals as we investigate the causes of the financial crisis," panel chairman Phil Angelides and vice chairman Bill Thomas explained.

Blankfein already has offered a partial apology for his company's role in the catastrophe. Speaking last month, shortly after publication of a four-part McClatchy Newspapers investigative series detailing Goldman's profiting from risky mortgages, Blankfein acknowledged shortcomings.