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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Thursday that subprime mortgage losses could hit $100 billion and threaten consumer spending, but he sought to reassure lawmakers that the central bank was working quickly to strengthen lending regulations.

"The credit losses associated with subprime have come to light and they are fairly significant," Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee in a second day of testimony on the Fed's twice-yearly economic report.

"Some estimates are in the order of between $50 billion and $100 billion of losses associated with subprime credit problems," he said, referring to a segment of the mortgage market that caters to borrowers with shaky credit.

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The dollar hit a record low against the euro on Monday, hurt by worries that problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage sector could harm consumers and slow U.S. growth. The dollar also languished against the yen after falling to six-week lows versus the Japanese currency on Friday, when a fall in U.S. equities eroded investors' appetite for risk and prompted them to unwind some bets against the low-yielding currency.

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