Obama names regulatory, monetary overseers

CHICAGO, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- President-elect Barack Obama revealed three more members of his economic team Thursday, announcing his choices for financial market and monetary regulators.

During a news conference in Chicago, Obama presented regulatory veteran Mary Schapiro as his nominee for Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, Gary Gensler as his choice to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Dan Tarullo as his designated Federal Reserve Board governor.

"Financial regulatory reform will be one of the top legislative priorities of my administration," Obama said.

Schapiro, Gensler and Tarullo "will help put in place new commonsense rules of the road that will protect investors, consumers and our entire economy from fraud and manipulation by an irresponsible few," he said. "These rules will reward the industriousness and entrepreneurial spirit that's always been the engine of prosperity, and crack down on the culture of greed and scheming that's led us to this day of reckoning."

Schapiro said she looked forward to working on Obama's economic team to implement a regulatory structure that protects investors.

"Investor trust is the lifeblood of our financial markets," she said. "The only way to restore the trust that has been lost is through effective, thoughtful reform of our regulatory structure and the consistent and robust enforcement of our financial regulations ... ."

The work done to restore the U.S. economy and reform the country's financial system is important in this challenging time, Gensler said.

If he is confirmed by the Senate, Tarullo said he looked forward to helping "steer the economy through these difficult times, and in adjusting regulatory and supervisory practices so as to maintain a stable and efficient financial system."