If the chatter about him is true, John Allison will be named for a Federal Reserve Board of Governors vacancy that would make him vice chairman and head of banking regulation, a position left technically unfilled as mandated by Dodd-Frank.

Allison is well-known on Wall Street. He was CEO of BB&T – aka Branch Banking and Trust Company - from 1989 to 2008, where he developed a reputation as a strong hand who guided the bank through years of prosperity and kept the institution off the rocks when the financial crisis hit in 2008. During his tenure, BB&T's assets swelled from $4.5 billion to $152 billion. The bank now has more than $217 billion in assets and is the 11th-largest U.S. institution.

Later in his career, Allison joined the libertarian Cato Institute think tank, where he currently serves on the board after being president and CEO from October 2012 to April 2015.

Appointing Allison as a Fed governor would carry some irony: A few months ago he told CNBC he would, at least theoretically, like to disband the U.S. central bank, though he knows it's not "doable in practice."

"What I really want to do with the Federal Reserve is control it," he said in late November. "You really have an incredibly powerful organization that there's no self-discipline for, and it's had a big impact, I believe, on our economic volatility over the years."

If Trump does tap Allison, they would share neatly matching visions of what the Fed's role should be. Like Trump, Allison opposes the Dodd-Frank banking reforms. But also like the president-elect, Allison believes in a no-nonsense approach to banks that become systemically dangerous.

"We need to stop putting economists on the board. The reason we have too-big-to-fail is because the economists are afraid to close down bad banks," said Christopher Whalen, senior managing director and head of research at Kroll Bond Rating Agency and once a rumored candidate himself for the position. "Having Allison in there, who's unafraid and unapologetic when it comes to his views on this, would be outstanding."

Industry groups likely would welcome Allison. Wall Street executives and analysts have long complained that the current climate at the Fed and in Washington generally has been one of overarching restrictions on risk since the financial crisis, which was precipitated in large part by reckless lending practices.