Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's choice to head an agency overseeing some of the riskiest corners of the financial world has moved closer to Senate confirmation.
The Senate Agriculture Committee voted Tuesday to approve the nomination of Timothy Massad as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and sent it to the full Senate.
Massad said at his recent confirmation hearing that he would act aggressively against market misconduct to ensure investors' confidence.
The CFTC regulates futures and options markets, and trading in derivatives, complex investments which were blamed for helping ignite the 2008 financial crisis.
Massad oversaw the Treasury Department's bank bailout program launched in response to the crisis.
The committee also approved two Obama nominees to fill vacancies on the five-member CFTC: securities lawyer Sharon Bowen and brokerage executive J. Christopher Giancarlo.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
