washington<u+2014>the top u.s. markets regulator is about to take a rightward turn. president-elect donald trump, who has promised either to eliminate or sharply cut back the 2010 dodd-frank financial law, is expected to install critics of the obama administration<u+2019>s signature response to the financial crisis in positions at the securities and exchange commission,<u+00a0>according to people familiar with the matter. in a sign of mr. trump<u+2019>s rightward tilt, former sec commissioner paul atkins is heading up the president-elect<u+2019>s transition team<u+2019>s work concerning the sec, the commodity futures trading commission and other financial regulators that historically operate independently of the white house, these people said. mr. atkins is an outspoken opponent of a range of postcrisis regulations, particularly the dodd-frank overhaul, as well as controversial reforms to money-market mutual funds. he<u+00a0>is currently chief executive of consulting firm patomak global partners llc. mr. trump<u+2019>s election, with the renewed gop-led congress, likely means a series of unfinished democratic priorities, such as curbs to wall street pay packages,<u+00a0>may be scaled back or scrapped entirely. the same holds true for rules the cftc has yet to complete, such as<u+00a0>limits on trading positions on commodities such as gold and sugar as well as efforts to rein in high-frequency trading firms. the republican election sweep<u+00a0>on tuesday<u+00a0>alters the political landscape at the sec, said edward mills of fbr & co. this comes as the agency <u+201c>is pursuing a variety of rules related to the asset management industry,<u+201d> which are now in doubt. <u+201c>a trump victory changes the balance of power at the commission, likely ending this effort<u+2014>a victory for asset managers,<u+201d> he added. mr. trump might also pursue legislation in the new congress to unravel some of dodd-frank<u+2019>s controversial regulatory provisions that have already gone into effect,<u+00a0>such as the volcker rule curbing bank trading. tuesday<u+2019>s<u+00a0>gop victories likely mean president barack obama <u+2019>s four pending nominees for existing sec and cftc vacancies won<u+2019>t advance during the lame-duck session of congress. <u+201c>you have to assume [supreme court nominee] merrick garland is gone and so are the other obama nominees,<u+201d> said sam geduldig, a principal at the lobbying firm cgcn group and a former aide to former house speaker john boehner (r., ohio). that means the trump administration will likely start<u+00a0>fresh next year with a new slate of nominees at the agencies. enforcement at the sec might be one of the few areas that doesn<u+2019>t change much under a trump administration. both republicans and democrats have sounded anti-wall street, anti-elite themes, and have pushed for ever stronger enforcement. at present, only three of the five commissioner posts are filled at the sec. besides chairman mary jo white, an independent, there is republican michael piwowar and democrat kara stein. mr. piwowar is likely to be appointed as interim chairman until the senate confirms mr. trump<u+2019>s eventual pick. mr. piwowar has dissented on a handful of recent cases, including those involving a high-profile crackdown on disclosures by private-equity firms. but he has supported the vast majority of cases, making it unlikely he would push for a very different enforcement approach. ms. white, the current sec chairman, is expected to step down by the end of mr. obama<u+2019>s term in january. with ms. white<u+2019>s departure, mr. trump would likely have three open commissioner positions to fill at the sec. <u+2014> aruna viswanatha and dave michaels contributed to this article. write to andrew ackerman at andrew.ackerman@wsj.com and michael c. bender at mike.bender@wsj.com
sec widely<u+00a0>expected to ease postcrisis rules during donald trump<u+2019>s administration  - wsj
andrew ackerman michael c. bender