Robert Schmidt

The former federal prosecutor is the president-elect's pick after vetting a handful of candidates, said a person with knowledge of the matter.

Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase were among the dissenters, people familiar with the matter said.

The Department of Labor closely collaborated with the powerful lobbying group for retirees as it campaigned for the fiduciary proposal.

Daniel Gallagher is resigning his post as a Republican member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after four years, a time marked by partisan battles over the regulatory response to the 2008 financial crisis.

Even before the details are out, Mary Jo White's move to insert the SEC into the debate on whether to tighten rules for brokers has given ammunition to both Wall Street firms and consumer groups in the biggest financial policy battle in Washington.

There’s a gap between the White House and Wall Street’s main regulator over a push to tighten broker rules. To the investment industry, it’s an opening to exploit.

New legislation would require retirement brokers to operate within fiduciary duty parameters, leaders say requirement would “throw the retirement system into chaos.”

The company has been under consideration as systemically important for more than a year, and its executives have met more than 10 times with council staff members to argue it doesn’t pose a risk.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers are cooperating on legislation that would lift some of the secrecy around the U.S. council that decides which companies pose the biggest risks to the financial system.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has paid $580,000 to settle claims by a former internal watchdog that he was fired in an effort to quash his investigations.

Robert Khuzami, who led the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division’s pursuit of financial industry wrongdoing related to the subprime crisis, plans to step down as early as next month, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

SEC Chairman Elisse Walter may hire as her top lawyer a former enforcement director from the main U.S. derivatives regulator.

Elisse Walter, who has spent the past four years as Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro’s closest confidant and behind-the-scenes adviser, will soon step into the spotlight that she has mostly shunned in trying to help her close friend succeed.

Schapiro, 57, will be replaced as chairman when she steps down on Dec. 14 by Commissioner Elisse Walter, former senior executive vice president at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, President Obama said in a statement.