As chairman of the SEC, Clayton would help police many of the same large banks he has spent decades representing, including Goldman Sachs and Barclays. He also would play a key role in Trump’s efforts to dismantle parts of 2010’s financial reform legislation, known as the Dodd-Frank Act. Clayton brings “decades of experience helping companies navigate complex federal regulations” and would “play an important role in unleashing the job-creating power of our economy,” according to a statement issued by Trump’s transition office announcing Clayton’s nomination.
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“Mr. Clayton’s background is as a Wall Street defense lawyer — and while that’s hardly unprecedented in these kind of nominations, we believe it’s not the appropriate background for a top position policing Wall Street,” said Marcus Stanley, policy director for Americans for Financial Reform. “We look forward to tough questioning from the Senate regarding his positions on specific issues.”
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In addition to replacing White, Trump will be able to fill two openings on the five-member SEC commission. Also, Thomas Curry, the head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, another important Wall Street regulator, has less than six months on his term and Timothy Massad, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, announced this week that he will step down. Together, the openings should give the Trump administration wide latitude to change the way Wall Street is regulated.