Bank Group Hires Former ACLI Head

Keating served on the board of a savings bank, and his experience at HUD should be helpful when questions about housing finance and the federal mortgage guarantee agencies come up, according to ABA Chairman Stephen Wilson.

"Coming out of the financial crisis, we are entering a period of great change for our industry," Wilson says in a statement. "We wanted a strong, proven leader and consensus builder who will listen to the concerns of bankers and be a dynamic champion for our industry during this critical time. That is what we have in Frank Keating."

Keating is going to the ABA from the ACLI at a time when the insurance industry has been telling regulators that the insurance industry is different from the banking industry and the securities industry and needs to have its own laws and regulations.

The ACLI helped with insurance industry efforts to keep the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from regulating the business of insurance. The bureau will have jurisdiction over the big banks that belong to the ABA and over nonbank consumer finance operations.