Hillary Clinton issued harsh words for Wall Street banks Monday, saying that "too big to fail is still too big a problem" and promising to prosecute individual bankers guilty of fraud if she is elected president.

The Democratic presidential frontrunner also promised to step up regulatory scrutiny of "shadow banking," or financial activity that takes place outside the traditional banking system.

Although Clinton's speech on the economy delivered at the New School in New York employed some of the anti-Wall Street rhetoric that some of her Democratic rivals have used to build progressive populist support, she stopped short of mentioning specific proposals to shrink the size or scope of banks.

During her address, which ranged over a number of economic policy topics, Clinton said that it was necessary to "go beyond Dodd-Frank," referring to the 2010 financial reform law that is one of President Obama's most notable legislative enactments. Big banks, she said, are still too complex and risky. While Obama administration officials have argued that the law has given regulators the ability to prevent bank failures from threatening the financial system or prompting taxpayer bailouts, left-wing critics, such as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have disagreed and called for measures to break up the biggest banks.

The former secretary of state also said it is necessary to step up prosecutions of individuals involved in financial crimes as well as penalizing banks as corporations. She promised to hire regulators who believe that "too big to fail is still too big a problem."

She also hinted at new regulations for the hedge funds, private equity firms and other financial companies that constitute the shadow banking system, without mentioning what rules might be implemented. Shadow banking has grown relative to the banking sector in recent years, and regulators have stepped up their supervision of non-bank finance through the Financial Stability Oversight Council created by Dodd-Frank.

Although she mentioned one bank, HSBC, by name in discussing financial crimes, Clinton didn't otherwise commit to any specific policy measures relating to finance in her speech, which was a general overview of her platform and not a detailed policy proposal.

Two of her primary opponents, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, have endorsed bringing back the Depression-era Glass-Steagall law separating commercial and investment banking.

In a detailed finance policy paper released last week, O'Malley also proposed breaking up big banks using the "living wills" process created by Dodd-Frank, in which banks must spell out bankruptcy plans in advance and demonstrate to regulators' satisfaction that those plans are credible.

Clinton has received strong support from big banks over her political career and is viewed by progressives as closer to Wall Street and big business than some of the other Democratic candidates.

Since her husband's presidency and the 2008 financial crisis, public attitudes toward Wall Street, especially among liberals, have become more critical, creating a political liability for Clinton on the Left.