Timothy Massad, the Treasury Department official responsible foroverseeing the U.S. rescue of banks and automakers after the creditcrisis, will be nominated to head the country's top derivativesregulator.

Massad, 57, will be nominated by President Barack Obama today tosucceed Gary Gensler as chairman of the Commodity Futures TradingCommission, an agency with expansive new authority under the 2010Dodd-Frank Act, according to a White House statement. Hisnomination requires Senate confirmation.

Massad would take over an agency that has put into place morethan 60 rules to regulate trading by banks including Goldman SachsGroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to help reduce risk andincrease transparency in the swaps market after largely unregulatedtrades helped fuel the crisis. The rules have yet to all takeeffect as the agency battles budget challenges as a result ofRepublican efforts in Congress to block Obama administrationefforts to increase its funding.