The Obama administration has asked Gary Gensler to serve a second term as the top U.S. futures-industry regulator, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Gensler, who heard from the White House in January, has not decided whether he will stay as chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Instead, some insiders say that he is interested in taking on a role as a senior economic official elsewhere in the administration. The leadership limbo has cast a shadow of uncertainty over the agency, complicating its efforts to write rules for the Dodd-Frank financial-regulatory law, among other work. Top Senate aides and CFTC commissioners say that they believe Gensler will leave the agency later this year.
