Paulson to Name Kashkari to Oversee Bailout, WSJ Says

By Shamim Adam and Steven McPherson

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is expected to name Neel Kashkari to oversee the U.S. government's $700 billion financial stabilization program, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

As assistant secretary for international economics and development at the Treasury, Kashkari is a senior adviser to Paulson and counsels him on key policy matters, according to the department's Web site. The decision for Kashkari, 35, to run the new department known as the Office of Financial Stability, may be announced as early as today, the newspaper said.

U.S. President George W. Bush signed a $700 billion financial-market rescue plan into law last week, calling it a ``decisive action to ease the credit crunch that is now threatening our economy.''

Kashkari was one of the Treasury officials who negotiated the proposal to buy bad mortgage investments from financial companies with Congress after last year envisaging the possibility of such a plan with Phillip Swagel, the assistant secretary for economic policy, the paper said.

The stabilization bill authorizes the government to buy troubled assets from financial institutions reeling from record home foreclosures. The Treasury Department still needs to decide on the hiring of asset managers, securities that need to be bought and ways to purchase them, the Wall Street Journal said.

Kashkari's position as interim head of the Office of Financial Stability is expected to end when Bush leaves office, the paper said. He was a vice president at Goldman Sachs & Co. before joining the Treasury, and his role there included advising public and private companies on mergers, acquisitions and financial transactions.

Financial Markets

Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke proposed last month the largest intervention in financial markets since the Great Depression. They said it was needed to prevent the spread of economic turmoil sparked by home foreclosures.

Paulson had urged Congress to immediately give him almost unchecked legislative authority to take action. Lawmakers responded by demanding increased oversight, more aid to prevent foreclosures and limits on executive compensation at companies that benefit from the program.

The government's new office for handling the financial bailout plans to hire five to 10 asset-management firms, and will add about two dozen new employees, a mix of bankers, lawyers, accountants and others, a Treasury official said on Oct. 3. The Treasury's first attempt to hold an auction to buy troubled assets from financial firms will take at least four weeks to set up, the official said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shamim Adam in Singapore at sadam2@bloomberg.net; Steven Mcpherson} at smcpherson@bloomberg.net