The family of Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s pick to run the Securities and Exchange Commission, owns a stake in a private company that sells services directly regulated by the agency that Mr. Clayton would run, according to federal ethics records, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Clayton’s wife and children own shares in WMB Holdings Inc. through several family trusts. One of WMB Holdings’ subsidiaries, Delaware Trust Co., tracks stock ownership for corporations and helps money managers comply with rules that govern the safekeeping of client assets. The SEC in late 2015 sought public input on a potential update of regulations that apply to transfer agents, which track stockholders for companies. Clayton, who goes before the Senate Banking Committee today for his confirmation hearing, disclosed in a federal ethics agreement in March that his family wouldn’t sell their interest in WMB Holdings because the SEC’s ethics rules don’t require them to divest in such circumstances. But Clayton promised that he would recuse himself from any work at the SEC that could affect the company’s finances.
