President Donald J. Trump intends to nominate Heath P. Tarbert to be CFTC Chair for a five-year term starting on April 14, 2019. Mr. Tarbert is currently U.S. Treasury Department ("Treasury") Assistant Secretary for International Markets.

Prior to joining the Treasury, Mr. Tarbert was a partner at Allen & Overy LLP in its global financial regulatory practice. Prior to that, he was Senior Fellow at the Harvard Law School Program on International Financial Systems, Legal Advisor to the Systemic Risk Council, Vice President of the research organization Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, and a member of the Board of Advisors for the Review of Securities and Commodities Regulation.

CFTC Chair J. Christopher Giancarlo praised the selection of Mr. Tarbert saying he is "well suited to continue the work of transitioning the CFTC into a Twenty-First Century digital regulator."

Commentary / Steven Lofchie

Mr. Giancarlo's praise for his likely successor is noteworthy. Mr. Giancarlo has been an outstanding regulator who is forward-thinking, always seeking to find a way to achieve a good balance of regulation and free markets and to co-operate with foreign regulators but not concede to them.

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