BUSINESS BRIEFING / REGULATION

Federal Reserve Gov. Randall Kroszner announced that he would step down on Jan. 21, giving President-elect Barack Obama an opportunity to put his stamp on the central bank. The 46-year-old economist will return to academia as a professor at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. At the Fed, Kroszner was the point person for efforts to tighten regulations on home mortgages and credit cards.

Obama has selected Daniel Tarullo, a Georgetown law professor, to fill one of two vacant seats on the Fed’s seven-member board in Washington. With Kroszner’s departure, there will be another opening for Obama to fill.