The two agencies most responsible for policing Wall Street will start the new year with only Republicans at the helm, marking the rare return of single-party dominance that is likely to endure as the regulators confront thorny new policy questions.
At the Securities and Exchange Commission, responsible for protecting investors in US stock markets, the sole remaining Democratic commissioner, Caroline Crenshaw, is set to depart after her term ends Jan. 3.
The SEC’s smaller sister agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will have only one person at the top—newly confirmed incoming Chairman Michael Selig—after acting Chairman Caroline Pham, a fellow Republican, left to join crypto payments company MoonPay.
Federal law says the agencies, designed to function with some political independence from the White House, can’t have more than three out of five commissioners from the same party. Presidents typically put forward nominees recommended by the opposing party to fill the other seats.
But there’s nothing stopping President Donald Trump from leaving the Democratic spots unfilled and further cementing his grip over Wall Street’s watchdogs….
Source: Trump’s Wall Street Regulators Set to Enter Rare GOP-Only Era