White House names Treasury nominees, needs more

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House named three nominees on Sunday for senior jobs at the U.S. Treasury Department, which still is trying to fill out its top ranks while dealing with a financial crisis.

The three nominees were announced just days after two contenders for more senior posts withdrew their names from consideration.

A Treasury spokesman said the Obama administration nonetheless was ahead of prior administrations in getting its top Treasury officials in place and said a perception that its work was being hindered was incorrect.

The nominees announced on Sunday were:

-- Lawyer David S. Cohen, for the position of assistant Treasury secretary, terrorist financing. Cohen, who worked at Treasury previously, was until recently a partner in the law firm WilmerHale;

-- Economist Alan Krueger for the job of assistant secretary, economic policy. Krueger taught at Princeton University and is widely published on a variety of economic issues;

-- Financial specialist Kim Wallace, nominated for assistant secretary, legislative affairs. Wallace previously was a managing director for the Washington research group at Barclays Capital and before that spent 14 years at now-defunct Lehman Brothers Group.

The positions require U.S. Senate confirmation.

All three of the nominees are serving as counselors to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

But there still is no deputy Treasury Secretary and two key undersecretaries -- for international policy and domestic finance -- have not yet been filled.

Undersecretaries are senior to assistant secretaries.

On Thursday, sources said former Securities and Exchange Commissioner Annette Nazareth withdrew from consideration to become a deputy Treasury secretary for personal reasons and that she would remain in her private securities law practice.

In addition, Geithner's choice for international affairs undersecretary, Caroline Atkinson, also pulled her name from consideration. Atkinson, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund, has decided to remain at the institution, a person familiar with the decision said.

Both Nazareth and Atkinson had been vetted for the jobs but had not been formally nominated.

Lee Sachs, also currently a counselor to Geithner, is widely considered a top contender for undersecretary for domestic finance, but also has not been formally nominated.

Sachs was most recently a partner and fund manager at Mariner Investment Group Inc. and is involved in developing the Treasury's bank rescue plan.

(Reporting by Glenn Somerville, editing by Derek Caney)