O’Malia Leaves CFTC As Corzine Decision Nears

CFTC Commissioner Scott O’Malia surprised market participants yesterday by announcing his resignation from the derivatives regulator yesterday.

CFTC’s Commissioner resignation would be effective August 8

In a letter to President Barack Obama, O’Malia, who had been at odds with the agency on some of its SWAPs regulations, said his resignation would be effective August 8. “Althought I did not support all 63 rules that the Commission has implemented under Dodd-Frank,” O’Malia wrote in a letter to Obama, “I am pleased to have contributed to the policy deliberations to improve Commission rule-makings and encouraged the Commission to be mindful of negative policy outcomes.”

Although he was a Republican, O’Malia was generally respected for...