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CFTC’s Berkovitz Plans to Leave Wall Street Regulator Next Month

CFTC’s Berkovitz Plans to Leave Wall Street Regulator Next Month

Dan Berkovitz, a Democratic member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, will leave the Wall Street regulator next month.

Berkovitz’s exit, which he announced in a Thursday statement, will leave the five-person U.S. derivatives regulator with only two members. Rostin Behnam, another Democrat on the panel, is expected to be President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the CFTC. Dawn Stump, a Republican commissioner, is remaining in her seat. 

During the Trump administration, Berkovitz clashed with the agency’s chairman Heath Tarbert over policy issues, including the CFTC’s decision to defer more swaps oversight to non-U.S. regulators. He was critical of the regulator’s response to crude’s sudden plunge to negative prices in April 2020, calling for new limits on certain futures contracts.

CFTC’s Berkovitz Plans to Leave Wall Street Regulator Next Month

“It’s never easy to leave,” Berkovitz said in an interview, declining to say what he plans to do next. “It’s just the right time for me to make that change.”

Berkovitz, who plans to leave Oct. 15, served as the CFTC’s general counsel during the Obama administration when the agency wrote rules to regulate the swaps market in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. He’s also been a partner at WilmerHale law firm in Washington. 

Recently, Berkovitz has raised concerns over a fast-growing corner of crypto known as DeFi, or decentralized finance. The CFTC oversees crypto derivatives, and in a June speech Berkovitz urged regulators to “be prepared to protect the public against misuse” of the new technologies. 

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.