Paulson picks GS alumnus to run bailout

US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has picked Neel Kashkari, a fellow veteran of Goldman Sachs, to run the planned $700 billion financial bailout.

Kashkari, like Paulson, is a former Goldman Sachs investment banker - until 2006 he was a vice-president in the bank's San Francisco office, and head of the IT Security Investment Banking operation. In 2006 he joined the Treasury as a senior advisor to Paulson, and subsequently became assistant secretary for international economics and development.

He will now take on the additional role of interim assistant secretary for financial stability, and will run the newly-created Office of Financial Stability. Chief among his responsibilities will be oversight of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program approved by Congress last week.

His international economics work will be handled by the assistant secretary for international affairs, Clay Lowery.

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