SEC’s Clayton Plans to Step Down as Chairman at Year’s End (1)

Jay Clayton, who has led the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for most of President Donald Trump’s term in office, said in a statement Monday that he will step down at the end of the year.

Clayton, a 54-year-old former deals lawyer who left New York-based Sullivan & Cromwell to join Wall Street’s main regulator, avoided the scandals that embroiled other Trump appointees and the political turmoil that engulfed previous SEC chairmen.

A political neophyte not registered with either political party, Clayton mostly succeeded in casting himself as being focused on protecting small-time investors from fraud and financial ...