Wendy Gramm to Quit as Top U.S. Futures Regulator

The nation’s top futures market regulator said Monday that she plans to step down, ending a nearly five-year tenure in which her agency championed free markets and was criticized for being lax in fighting trading abuses.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairwoman Wendy Gramm said she has no immediate plans for what she will do when she leaves the agency she has headed since February, 1988.

Gramm, a Republican, was first appointed by President Ronald Reagan. Her departure--which she said would be soon--had been expected after Bill Clinton’s election victory.

Gramm pledged to carry out a “smooth transition,” adding that she intends to complete work on a number of regulatory matters before she leaves the CFTC, probably in January.

Gramm, an economist married to Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.), is an unabashed proponent of free-market ideology.

She has fought what she believes are burdensome regulations that could drive futures trading to overseas markets.

Moreover, Gramm has pushed the CFTC to streamline its own regulations. She has advocated efforts to cut paperwork and supported moves to relax disclosure guidelines for big traders who deal with sophisticated investors. And she has pushed for speedy approval of new futures contracts.

Gramm also battled successfully to rebuff efforts by the Securities and Exchange Commission--as well as the White House--to curb the CFTC’s oversight in the futures markets.

Those efforts have won Gramm plaudits, especially from the businesses her agency is charged with regulating.