Bankers’ Candidates
In compiling its wish list of potential nominees, Wall Street is pushing for what some executives call “adults” who understand markets and have been regulators in the past, such as Fed Governor Lael Brainard, ex-Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin, and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and TIAA Chief Executive Officer Roger Ferguson, both of whom are African American.

Other favorites include several women with closer Wall Street ties: Sallie Krawcheck, the former chief financial officer of Citigroup Inc. who now runs a digital investment platform for women; Alphabet Inc. CFO Ruth Porat, who held the same job at Morgan Stanley; and Mellody Hobson, co-CEO of Ariel Investments and a board member of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

A Biden fundraiser last month put together by alumni of Barack Obama’s Treasury Department also showcased a number of people thought to be vying for regulatory jobs. The top donors, who each paid $25,000, included ex-Treasury counselor Antonio Weiss, Mary Miller, who recently ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Baltimore, and Seth Carpenter, the chief economist at UBS Securities.

Overall, Biden has raised more than $42.4 million from the securities and investment industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Progressives’ Strategy
Progressives say they are working on a two-pronged plan, offering names to the Biden campaign but also developing opposition research against potential Wall Street nominees. Among their biggest targets, people familiar with their effort said, is blocking anyone from BlackRock Inc. Activists argue the world’s biggest money manager is dangerously inter-connected and holds too much sway in Washington.

The progressive effort is being led by several groups such as the Revolving Door Project, Demand Progress, Americans for Financial Reform and Data for Progress. They are counting on massive email lists, social media and alliances with other liberal organizations, including the environmental movement, to help them press their case.

Their candidates include Obama Commodity Futures Trading Commission chief Gary Gensler, ex-SEC Commissioner Kara Stein, Amanda Fischer, who recently served as Representative Katie Porter’s chief of staff, ex-Warren aide Bharat Ramamurti and Graham Steele, a former San Francisco Fed staff member. They also would support Democratic SEC Commissioner Allison Lee becoming chairwoman.

Pro-Business Aides
A point Wall Street says it has in its favor is that Biden’s closest advisers are mainly centrists and seasoned Washington hands who would resist progressives’ most extreme ideas. They include Steve Ricchetti, a former corporate lobbyist, attorney Ron Klain, general counsel at venture capital firm Revolution, and longtime Democratic strategists Bruce Reed and Mike Donilon. Another Biden supporter is Donilon’s brother, Tom, a BlackRock executive who was Obama’s national security advisor.

But the liberal activists believe they also have allies in several staff who are working on domestic policy issues, as well as in Ted Kaufman, who is leading Biden’s transition team. After being appointed as a placeholder for Biden’s Senate seat in 2009, Kaufman called for capping the size of banks and ripped the Justice Department for failing to send Wall Street executives to prison after the 2008 financial crisis.

As both sides game out their strategy, there are plenty of unknowns. Perhaps the biggest factor will be which party ends up controlling the Senate, where most senior appointees must be approved. If Republicans continue to hold a majority, it could be tough for those with long track records of bashing banks to win confirmation.