President Obama on Thursday will nominate former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White as chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and renominate Richard Cordray for a full term as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a White House official.
Both nominations are central to Obama’s hopes of more tightly regulating Wall Street during his second term, as many of the new rules created by the Dodd-Frank overhaul of financial regulation take effect.
(Dennis Cook/AP) - In this 2002 file photo, Mary Jo White, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, appears on Capitol Hill in Washington. A White House official says President Obama on Thursday will nominate White as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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White, currently a top lawyer at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York, previously served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, which investigates many of the country’s most significant financial crimes.
In that position, she prosecuted the terrorists responsible for bombing the World Trade Center in 1993 and of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.
White would take over the SEC following a period in which it has tried to restore its reputation following the nation’s financial crisis.
The agency was deeply battered by the collapse of investment banks under its watch, and multiple missed opportunities to stop the infamous Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. After that debacle, Obama appointed Mary L. Schapiro as chair and tasked her with trying to rebuild the agency, issuing new rules to protect investors and filing high-profile enforcement cases against major Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs.
Many analysts say the efforts to rebuild the agency have largely succeeded, although there have been notable failures, particularly in the agency’s attempt to significantly tighten regulation of money market funds, which were a major source of risk in the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
Schapiro recently stepped down from her post.
“The SEC plays an essential role in the implementation of Wall Street reform and rooting out reckless behavior in the financial industry,” said a White House official, who insisted on anonymity because the president’s announcement, scheduled for 2:30 p.m., had not been made. “White’s background in enforcement and record of success make her the perfect choice to lead the agency at this important time.”
Obama is also nominating Corday, a former attorney general of Ohio, to lead the CFPB for a full term.
Obama used installed Cordray in late 2011 as a recess appointment, after Republicans made clear they had no intention of confirming him. Their refusal stemmed from their objection to the CFPB, a watchdog agency that Obama created to police financial products sold to consumers.
Corday’s recess appointment is set to expire at the end of this year.
“In just the past year, Cordray and the CFPB have made remarkable progress in strengthening consumer protections,” the White House official said, pointing to measures taken to protect homeowners and ensure that credit card companies, debt collectors and student lenders are following the rules.
Both nominations are central to Obama’s hopes of more tightly regulating Wall Street during his second term, as many of the new rules created by the Dodd-Frank overhaul of financial regulation take effect.
(Dennis Cook/AP) - In this 2002 file photo, Mary Jo White, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, appears on Capitol Hill in Washington. A White House official says President Obama on Thursday will nominate White as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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White, currently a top lawyer at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York, previously served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, which investigates many of the country’s most significant financial crimes.
In that position, she prosecuted the terrorists responsible for bombing the World Trade Center in 1993 and of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.
White would take over the SEC following a period in which it has tried to restore its reputation following the nation’s financial crisis.
The agency was deeply battered by the collapse of investment banks under its watch, and multiple missed opportunities to stop the infamous Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme. After that debacle, Obama appointed Mary L. Schapiro as chair and tasked her with trying to rebuild the agency, issuing new rules to protect investors and filing high-profile enforcement cases against major Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs.
Many analysts say the efforts to rebuild the agency have largely succeeded, although there have been notable failures, particularly in the agency’s attempt to significantly tighten regulation of money market funds, which were a major source of risk in the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
Schapiro recently stepped down from her post.
“The SEC plays an essential role in the implementation of Wall Street reform and rooting out reckless behavior in the financial industry,” said a White House official, who insisted on anonymity because the president’s announcement, scheduled for 2:30 p.m., had not been made. “White’s background in enforcement and record of success make her the perfect choice to lead the agency at this important time.”
Obama is also nominating Corday, a former attorney general of Ohio, to lead the CFPB for a full term.
Obama used installed Cordray in late 2011 as a recess appointment, after Republicans made clear they had no intention of confirming him. Their refusal stemmed from their objection to the CFPB, a watchdog agency that Obama created to police financial products sold to consumers.
Corday’s recess appointment is set to expire at the end of this year.
“In just the past year, Cordray and the CFPB have made remarkable progress in strengthening consumer protections,” the White House official said, pointing to measures taken to protect homeowners and ensure that credit card companies, debt collectors and student lenders are following the rules.