SEC chief to step down when Obama leaves office

Mary Jo White has stepped to the front of the line of financial regulators moving aside for Donald Trump’s administration. White, a political independent appointed by President Barack Obama, said Monday that she will step down as Securities and Exchange Commission chair in January. 

Her nearly four-year tenure has been highlighted by high-profile enforcement cases and plagued by internal battles that stalled controversial policies. With the Senate under Republican control, Trump is likely to have a relatively easy time installing his choices to run the SEC and other agencies, so the vacancy might be filled quickly. The five-seat commission is already two members short and White has essentially represented a tie-breaking vote between Republican Michael Piwowar and Democrat Kara Stein, who split on major issues. 

It remains to be seen what tack the president-elect will take in overseeing the financial industry beyond his campaign pledge to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act, which has dominated regulators’ work since it was enacted in 2010.  Former Commissioner Paul Atkins, a Republican who left the agency in 2008, is leading the Trump transition team’s work on independent regulators like the SEC.