Treasury names interim CIO for Tarp

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WASHINGTON, DC – The US Treasury has named James Lambright to serve as the interim chief investment officer for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (Tarp) authorised by Congress earlier this month.

Until the position is filled permanently, he will provide counsel to Treasury secretary Henry Paulson and Neel Kashkari, interim assistant secretary for the Office of Financial Stability, as they develop and implement the programme.

Lambright brings a strong private and public sector financial background to the Treasury team. He has been head of the Export-Import (Exim) Bank since July 2005, where he managed 400 employees and a $60 billion credit portfolio with $100 billion in financing capacity. He successfully converted Exim Bank into a self-financing agency, returning positive net income to the Treasury while taking no appropriated funds from Congress in 2008. Before that he worked in private equity at Credit Suisse, where he specialised in the underwriting and negotiation of real estate and venture capital transactions.