(Bloomberg) — President-elect Donald Trump's transition team has interviewed Paul Atkins, a veteran financial regulator and prominent figure in conservative financial circles, as a candidate to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. according to people familiar with the matter.
Atkins is a leading contender for the job to replace outgoing SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, said the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. Trump is expected to make a choice in the coming days and no decision has been made, they said.
Current SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda, Heath Tarbert, a former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Robert Stebbins, a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, are also among those being considered for the job, Bloomberg News reported in beginning of this month.
Earlier: Farley, champion among candidates to succeed Gensler as SEC Chairman
“President-elect Trump has made excellent decisions about who will serve in his second administration at lightning speed. The remaining decisions will continue to be announced by him as they are made,” Trump spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in a statement.
Atkins and his representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Digital asset protector
Atkins served as a Republican commissioner of the SEC during the George W. Bush administration, after which he founded Patomak Global Partners, an advisory firm for major financial industry clients.
He is a strong supporter of digital assets and fintech companies. He has also testified before Congress on ways to restructure the agency's operations and reduce what some industry participants would consider duplicative or overly burdensome regulations.
Trump had promised to fire Gensler on “day one,” a promise that became controversial when the former Goldman Sachs banker announced earlier this month that he would be leaving in January. Gensler led the SEC with an ambitious agenda, cracking down on cryptocurrencies, after a series of high-profile collapses, including the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX exchange.
Gensler's SEC was often criticized by the industry for making regulations through enforcement rather than making clear how to play by the rules, an approach that may change under the new administration. Trump embraced cryptocurrency during his campaign, having once described him as a scam against the dollar. He promised supporters that he would create a strategic Bitcoin gatherappoint crypto-friendly regulators and end the outgoing administration's “anti-crypto crusade.”
The SEC under its new chief is expected to stay focused on what are considered priorities: rooting out fraud, targeting insider trading, stopping Ponzi schemes and curbing inaccurate, misleading or excessive disclosures.