President-elect Joe Biden to name Gary Gensler as US SEC chair: Report

Gary Gensler, a leading financial regulator under the Obama administration, is expected to be named chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by President-elect Joe Biden in coming days, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Gensler was chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) from 2009 to 2014, and since November has led Biden's transition planning for financial industry oversight.

Gensler did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gensler's appointment as the country's top securities regulator likely means a reversal of four years of the rule-easing that Wall Street banks, brokers, funds and public companies have enjoyed under President Donald Trump's SEC chair Jay Clayton.

At the CFTC, Gensler implemented new swaps trading rules mandated by Congress following the 2007-2009 financial crisis, developing a reputation as a hard-nosed operator unafraid of ruffling feathers.

A former Goldman Sachs banker and 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.