Factbox: Key players in reshaping financial rules

(Reuters) - As the Senate moves closer to a final vote on financial reform, party leaders -- Democrat Harry Reid and Republican Mitch McConnell -- will be major figures in determining the outcome.

The following are snapshots of them and other key players in the debate about tightening bank and capital market rules:

HARRY REID, SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER

Facing a tough reelection challenge at home in Nevada, Reid, 70, is pushing hard for passage of President Barack Obama's and the Democrats' bill on financial reform.

A former boxer and Capitol Police officer, Reid practiced law in his home state before winning election to the state assembly and then becoming lieutenant governor. He was elected to the House in 1982 and the Senate in 1986.

MITCH MCCONNELL, SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER

The patrician senior senator from Kentucky is a career politician and lawyer, having worked as an aide on Capitol Hill before becoming a judge and then a senator in 1984.

Like Reid, he was not deeply involved in financial reform until it appeared on the leadership's radar screen this month. McConnell, 68, has spoken out against the Democrats' reform bill, underscoring the Republicans' "Party of No" image.

CHRISTOPHER DODD, SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN

The silver-tongued, snowy-haired Connecticut Democrat on March 22 pushed a financial reform bill through the Senate Banking Committee, which he chairs, on a party-line vote.

He is now trying to modify the bill in hopes of achieving a bipartisan agreement, while also working to win enough Republican support to get it through the full Senate.

The son of a senator, Dodd, 65, won election to the House of Representatives in 1974. He went to the Senate in 1980 and was reelected four times. The past two years were tough ones and in January he announced he will not seek reelection in November.

RICHARD SHELBY, SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE'S TOP REPUBLICAN

The patient, cool-headed senior senator from Alabama -- often the tallest man in the room -- holds immense sway over the financial reform debate in the committee he once chaired.

Although he and Dodd hit an impasse in negotiations in January, Shelby has since rejoined talks with Dodd and Corker.

A lawyer with a distinctive Southern drawl, Shelby, 75, was first elected to the House in 1978, as a Democrat. He moved to the Senate in 1986 and switched parties in 1994.

He was the only Republican to vote against financial services industry deregulation in November 1999. He chaired the banking committee from 2003-08.

BOB CORKER, REPUBLICAN MEMBER OF SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE

The junior senator from Tennessee is a multimillionaire commercial developer and construction company owner who was mayor of Chattanooga. He was elected to the Senate in 2006.

In his brief career on Capitol Hill, Corker, 57, a quick-witted businessman with an Appalachian twang in his Southern accent, has become a fundraising powerhouse.

He has worked closely with Dodd, trying to forge a bipartisan financial reform compromise, sometimes bucking traditional leadership roles on the banking committee.

BLANCHE LINCOLN, SENATE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN

The senior senator from Arkansas, Lincoln recently pushed through her committee a hard-hitting bill on derivatives market regulation that shocked Wall Street.

It would require banks to spin off their swap-trading units. Much of the bill is expected to make its way into the broader financial reform package moving through the Senate.

Lincoln, 49, is a self-styled "farmer's daughter," and a former House aide. She was elected to the House in 1992 and the Senate in 1998. She faces a tough reelection challenge.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT

The charismatic U.S. president wants to rein in the financial sector and end decades of deregulation, rising banker bonuses and reckless Wall Street risk-taking blamed for the 2008-09 financial crisis that rocked economies worldwide.

Since unveiling a comprehensive set of reform proposals in mid-2009, he has waited for months for Congress to act.

BARNEY FRANK, HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN

Among the slick bankers he deals with daily, the thorny Massachusetts Democrat last year emerged as chief architect in Congress of financial regulation reform and a key ally of the Obama administration.

Frank's short temper and sharp tongue win him few friends on Capitol Hill, but he is both widely feared and respected for his ability as a lawyer, legislator and debater.

He pushed a bill through the House in December that achieved much of the administration's original reform agenda.

If Dodd can get a bill passed in the Senate, Frank, 70, will play a central part in conference negotiations.

PAUL VOLCKER, WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIC ADVISER

At 82, the former Federal Reserve chairman is a legend in his own time. Known for vanquishing stagflation during the Carter and Reagan administrations, the 6-foot-7-inch Volcker commands deep bipartisan respect in financial circles.

Obama brought Volcker into the White House as an adviser early on. The two stunned markets in January with a three-part proposal to limit banks' proprietary trading, get them out of the hedge fund business and limit their future growth.

The proposals became known as "the Volcker rule," and Congress is still figuring out what to do about it.

BEN BERNANKE, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN

The stoic, bearded U.S. central bank chief survived sharp criticism in January of the Fed's failures ahead of the crisis, and won Senate confirmation to a second, four-year term.

Since then, he has had some success in restoring the Fed's image in Congress, where proposals to strip away its bank supervision and consumer protection jobs are fading from view.

Under Bernanke, a 56-year-old former Princeton University economics professor, the Fed has devoted hundreds of billions of dollars to propping up banks and the housing market.

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY

As President Obama's point man on financial reform, the youthful-looking Treasury secretary dominated the headlines from early to mid-2009, but Congress is now center stage.

That may be good for Geithner, 48, whom some lawmakers have said should resign. Obama has stood firmly by his Treasury secretary amid signs of economic recovery.

LAWRENCE SUMMERS, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL DIRECTOR

A former Treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, Summers, 55, works closely with Geithner on reforms, mostly behind the scenes. Summers has a reputation for brilliance as an economist as well as for not suffering fools gladly.

Persistent rumors that he may soon resign have proven empty, like the talk of Geithner being on his way out.