FACTBOX: Key players in reshaping U.S. financial regulation

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Key figures determined to overhaul America's financial regulation system range from a young president facing a variety of crises to veteran policy-makers who have been tested by past financial downturns.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT

The U.S. president is determined to rein in the deregulated financial services sector and end a free-wheeling period blamed by some for the financial crisis behind the recession. Many Democrats in Congress agree with him.

Obama, a community organizer and civil rights lawyer before entering the Senate in 2005, has already signed into law a bill to curb sudden interest rate increases on credit cards and his administration is moving to keep a closer eye on over-the-counter derivatives and other complex financial instruments.

Two of his senior officials said in an opinion piece on Monday that reform would mean higher capital and liquidity requirements and that firms that are too big to fail would face additional scrutiny.

BEN BERNANKE, FED CHAIRMAN

The soft-spoken Bernanke studied the Great Depression in graduate school, preparing him for today's crisis.

Unlike his 1930s predecessors, Bernanke has turned on the money taps to flood the system with liquidity while slashing interest rates to spur the economy and fight deflation. He has also warned that big deficits would inevitably drive up interest rates.

Before taking the reins at the Fed in February 2006, he briefly headed President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. Before that, he had three years of service on the Fed Board, adding practical policy experience to his earlier theoretical work as an academic at Princeton University.

A sober-sided "gray man" in appearance, Bernanke is plain-spoken, in contrast to predecessor Alan Greenspan, whose obscure policy pronouncements often perplexed his listeners.

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY

Geithner, who worked with his one-time boss Lawrence Summers to explain the administration's financial regulation reform proposals in a Washington Post op-ed, has a reputation of being cool under pressure. And there's plenty of pressure.

He also has the unenviable job of helping the president keep down expectations of a quick recovery. Geithner told a New York audience on Monday that the financial system was beginning to improve but that unemployment will likely rise more.

As president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Geithner was closely involved in the rescue of Citigroup Inc, as well as the bailouts of Bear Stearns and American International Group. But his reputation was tarnished by his involvement in the decision to let investment bank Lehman Brothers fail, a step blamed by some for plunging an already fragile financial system into a downward spiral.

Previously, Geithner played a big part in shaping U.S. policy during the Asian and Russian economic crises in 1997-1998, when he was in his late 30s.

Geithner also worked at the International Monetary Fund, where he directed the Policy Development and Review Department from 2001-03. He studied Japanese and Chinese, and has lived in East Africa, India, Thailand, China and Japan.