The Man in the Middle of the TARP: A Discussion with Treasury’s Neel Kashkari

On January 8, the Brookings Institution hosted Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Neel Kashkari for an update on recent actions related to the Treasury Department’s $700 billion financial stability program.

In June 2008, Neel Kashkari was confirmed as the assistant secretary for international economics and development, after serving as the senior advisor to Secretary Henry Paulson. In October 2008, Assistant Secretary Kashkari was also appointed interim assistant secretary of the Treasury for financial stability. In this capacity, Assistant Secretary Kashkari established and oversees the Office of Financial Stability, which develops and implements all aspects of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Since October, Treasury has established a number of programs under the TARP, including a significant capital purchase program for financial institutions, an auto program and a securitization program.

Prior to joining the Treasury Department, Kashkari was a vice president at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Earlier in his career, Kashkari developed technology for NASA space science missions such as the Webb Space Telescope.