“Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be the Treasury Department’s No. 2 official and highest-ranking woman ever.

“Raskin today was approved in a voice vote as deputy Treasury secretary, a job that can touch upon anything the department handles from coordinating financial rules to relations with emerging economies such as Ukraine. The deputy secretary also typically oversees the department’s day-to-day operations.

“Raskin’s record as a Fed governor and as Maryland’s top financial regulator from 2007 to 2010 suggests she will have a role in revamping U.S. housing finance and the implementation of the Dodd-Frank law, and may be more sympathetic to consumers than to the financial-services industry.

“She has a very long record of ensuring that there are clear, strong rules in the financial markets to protect workers, families and the financial system from the excesses of Wall Street,” said Dennis Kelleher, president of Washington-based Better Markets Inc., a non-profit group that backs stricter bank regulation. Change in housing finance “is going to need the strong voice of Sarah Raskin to make sure that Wall Street doesn’t get the profits and taxpayers get the bill.”

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Read full Bloomberg article here.