White House nominates Bowes, a former banker, for open CFTC position

Washington — The White House Aug. 13 nominated Robert Benedict Bowes, a former bank executive and 2017 Housing and Urban Development appointee, to join the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

If the Senate confirms him, Bowes would serve a term that expires April 13, 2025, filling the seat at the five-member derivatives regulator held by Republican Brian Quintenz, whose term has expired.

Quintenz, commenting on Twitter Aug. 13, said he has committed to the White House, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and CFTC Chairman Heath Tarbert to remain in office until the Senate acts on a confirmation.

Because of the commission's mission protecting derivatives markets and "the dramatic impacts on those markets from the [COVID-19] pandemic, the agency should remain at full strength without interruption," Quintenz said.

Quintenz's promise to stay on to help keep the CFTC fully staffed comes as the commission is readying to act on a final regulation setting position limits for physical commodities derivatives. The complex rule has been nearly a decade in the making, and Tarbert has expressed intentions of acting before the November election. Action is seen as possible in October.

The commission in January split along party lines, voting 3-2 to propose new federal limits in 25 physical commodity derivatives. Democrats raised concerns about how high the levels were set, how much of the CFTC's role was ceded to exchanges, and the CFTC's position on a longstanding legal fight over whether it had to make a necessity finding before setting limits.

Bowes background

According to the White House announcement, Bowes was appointed to HUD in January 2017 "leading efforts that helped [Federal Housing Administration] borrowers and restored capital adequacy to protect US taxpayers."

He is currently a senior adviser at the Office of Personnel Management, addressing health and insurance, the White House said.

Previously, he held positions as director of counterparty risk at Fannie Mae and was vice president of Chase Manhattan Bank, where he worked on corporate finance deals.