UPDATE 1-FINRA names interim CEO as Schapiro heads to SEC

NEW YORK Jan 23 (Reuters) - The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a U.S. regulator overseeing nearly 5,000 brokerages, named Stephen Luparello on Friday as interim chief executive.

Luparello replaces Mary Schapiro, whose nomination to become chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission won U.S. Senate approval on Thursday.

FINRA said its board of governors has established a search committee to find a permanent replacement for Schapiro.

Luparello is FINRA's senior executive vice president for regulatory operations. He has worked with the regulator and a predecessor, the National Association of Securities Dealers, since 1996. Before that, he worked at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and at the SEC.

Separately, FINRA said former Merrill Lynch & Co executive Robert McCann and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (LEHMQ.PK) executive Thomas Russo have resigned from its board.

McCann resigned from Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), which bought Merrill on Jan. 1, and where he had been expected to run brokerage operations. Russo vacated his board seat because Lehman, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept. 15, no longer qualifies as a "large firm" under FINRA guidelines.

FINRA said its board plans to nominate two new large firm candidates in February. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, editing by Matthew Lewis)