On January 4th, 2017, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Jay Clayton as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Clayton is currently a partner at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, which works with investment and other Wall Street firms on mergers, acquisitions, and regulatory oversight.
According to the firm’s website, Clayton represented Goldman Sachs and Barclay’s Capital as well as other banks during and after the 2008 financial crisis. He has also handled numerous IPOs and financing transactions and is recognized as one of the top corporate lawyers in America. The choice of Clayton may signal plans by the incoming administration to reduce corporate regulations in order to stimulate growth.
Trump called Clayton “a highly talented expert on many aspects of financial and regulatory law” in his press release and repeated his administration’s goal of cutting back on SEC regulations. In the same press release, Clayton said he and the SEC would “work together with key stakeholders in the financial system” and “set policy that encourages American companies to do what they do best: create jobs”.
Trump’s transition team also states that Clayton authored various publications on regulatory law and that he served as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.
The SEC’s current chairman, Mary Jo White, announced her intention to resign at the end of the Obama Administration. There are two other openings on the five-person commission as well. Additionally, four division directors at the SEC have announced their departures, including Andrew Ceresney, the SEC’s Enforcement Division Director, and Keith Higgins, the Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance.
Sources
President-Elect Donald J. Trump Nominates Jay Clayton Chairman of the SEC (www.greatagain.gov)
SEC Chair Mary Jo White Announces Departure Plans (www.sec.gov)
