WASHINGTON, May 18 (Reuters) - The Senate on Monday confirmed Neal Wolin to be deputy Treasury secretary, giving the department a senior official as it tries to help guide the country out of a deep recession and fix the banking system.
Wolin, who was approved by the Senate by unanimous consent, was general counsel for the Treasury from 1999 to 2001.
Just prior to his nomination by President Barack Obama, he served as White House deputy counsel for economic policy and previously served as chief operating officer of The Hartford Financial Services Group Inc's property and casualty operations.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner initially had battled the global financial crisis with a small circle of advisers and few confirmed appointees in top posts, but has been gradually filling out the department's ranks.
"These things always take longer than you expect," Geithner said earlier on Monday. "If you look at the arc of confirmations in this administration, we're ahead of the curve in some areas, we're slightly behind in other areas, but even below that level we've got some great talented people." (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky and Timothy Ahmann; Editing by Xavier Briand)