WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Gary Gensler will be named chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with President Joe Biden, said two sources familiar with the matter, a role that is likely to provoke concern among Wall Street companies about tougher regulation.
Gensler chaired the Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2009 to 2014, and since November has led Biden’s move planning for overseeing the financial industry.
His tenure as the country’s top security regulator is expected to halt the four years of easing rules enjoyed by banks, brokers, currencies and Wall Street public companies under SEC President Donald Trump’s chairman Jay Clayton.
At the CFTC, Gensler enacted surprising new swap trading rules announced by Congress in the aftermath of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, building a reputation as a hard – nosed operator willing to stand up to Wall Street’s powerful interests.
Formerly a Goldman Sachs banker and a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management, Gensler also sued major investment banks for rigging Libor, the benchmark for trillions of dollars in loans worldwide.
Gensler did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Biden did not immediately respond to a similar request.
Promoters are likely to welcome the appointment.
A former Wall Street lawyer, Clayton’s lawyer was criticized by Democrats for his extensive association with many companies with which he had a duty to oversee and for leading an ambitious agenda to halt a 20-year decline in U.S. public company listings with a revision of dozens of regulations.
Among the most controversial changes were critics of measures that said corporate disclosures to investors reduced the weakness of analysts’ independence, making it harder for shareholders to push for corporate votes on issues such as climate change and racial justice, and allowing more retail investors to dabble in private company investments. .
Clayton has said his changes held important protections for investors and the market, and his tight stance slowing down cryptocurrency fraud and offers won praise from consumer groups. But consumer and investor groups, for the most part, said its changes too often made life easier for corporates by weakening investor protections or reducing investor rights. .
“The top of the group is about to set an agenda towards the other place where Jay Clayton and the Republican Republicans have been leading for years, by expanding and developing industry publications and renewing investor rights, ”said Ty Gellasch, head of Washington-based, healthy markets.
Written by Michelle Price, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Howard Goller