The U.S. Senate on Friday confirmed Herb Allison, the former chief executive of mortgage finance company Fannie Mae, as assistant Treasury secretary to oversee the government's $700 billion bank bailout fund.

Allison, had led Fannie Mae after the Treasury Department seized it last September to avert a collapse. He will replace Neel Kashkari, who was appointed to oversee the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) by the former Bush administration but who had stayed on until early May.

(Reporting by Thomas Ferraro; Writing by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Fannie mae