By Michelle Price
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who appeared to be closing in on an election victory, is expected to tap former derivatives market regulator Gary Gensler to advise on a transition plan for financial industry oversight, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Gensler, who served as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2009 to 201, was expected to lead a team of policy experts focused on banking and markets regulators, such as the CFTC, Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission, as part of a the usual agency review process undertaken by an incoming administrations, the WSJ reported.
Gensler and a spokesman for Biden’s transition did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday evening.
The decision to appoint Gensler was likely to please many Democrats who applauded his tough stance on Wall Street under former President Barack Obama.
As CFTC chair, he led creation of key swaps rules mandated by Congress following the 2007-2009 financial crisis, developing a reputation as a hard-headed operator who was not afraid to ruffle feathers.
His efforts put the CFTC well ahead on the implementation of the 2010 Dodd-Frank reform law. Other regulators are still implementing the law’s rules a decade later.
A former Goldman Sachs banker and currently a professor at MIT Sloan School of Management, Gensler also oversaw the prosecution of big investment banks for rigging Libor, the benchmark for trillions of dollars in lending worldwide.
Biden, who leads incumbent Republican President Donald Trump in the key battleground states, according to several television networks, was accused of being too cozy with Wall Street as a senator and later Obama’s vice president and has said relatively little on financial reform more broadly.
His appointees are expected to prioritize policies on which Democrats broadly agree – boosting consumer protections and measures to help tackle racial injustice, diversity, wealth inequality and climate change.
One area Biden has focused on are rules that promote lending to low income communities, which he has pledged to expand. He has also pledged to crack down on credit reporting agencies which are criticized for harming consumers with inaccurate reports and by focusing on scoring factors that disadvantage minorities.
(Reporting by Michelle Price; Editing by David Gregorio)
