Release Number 9036-25
Acting Chairman Pham: Time For CFTC to Get Back to Basics
January 21, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Commodity Futures Trading Commission Acting Chairman Caroline D. Pham today made the following statement:“I’m humbled and grateful to be entrusted by President Trump to lead the CFTC as we approach a significant milestone in our history with tremendous opportunities ahead,” Pham said. “For the past half century, the CFTC has proudly served our mission to promote market integrity and liquidity in the commodity derivatives markets that are critical to the real economy and global trade—ensuring American growers, producers, merchants and other commercial end-users can mitigate risks to their business and support strong U.S. economic growth. As the CFTC celebrates our 50th anniversary, we must also refocus and change direction with new leadership to fulfill our statutory mandate to promote responsible innovation and fair competition in our markets that have continually evolved over the decades. It’s time for the CFTC to get back to the basics.“I’m honored to work alongside our dedicated CFTC staff, and I thank former Chairman Behnam and my fellow Commissioners for their service.”Acting Chairman Caroline D. PhamCaroline D. Pham was sworn in as a CFTC Commissioner on April 14, 2022, after being nominated by the President and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Acting Chairman Pham is an internationally recognized leader in strategy and innovation, with deep commercial expertise in derivatives and capital markets. Her commissionership has focused on access to markets, American competitiveness, and right-sizing regulations to promote market liquidity and efficiency. Acting Chairman Pham began her financial services career on the fixed income trading floor and has 24 years of experience in law and finance including over 10 years of experience in crypto and digital assets. Acting Chairman Pham was named to CoinDesk’s Most Influential 2023 list in recognition of her groundbreaking proposal for a U.S. regulatory sandbox by creating a CFTC digital asset markets pilot program.As sponsor of the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee, Acting Chairman Pham has delivered 14 recommendations on U.S. Treasury market reform, repo and funding markets, money market funds, collateral management, capital and margin, exchange volatility controls, T+1 securities settlement and FX markets, central counterparty resilience, streamlining trade reporting data, tokenized collateral, and a first-ever U.S. digital asset taxonomy. Prior to her appointment, Acting Chairman Pham advised boards of directors, executive and senior management, policymakers and regulators, and industry leaders on changes to the regulatory landscape and implications of emerging issues, trends, and economic and market developments to the global financial system, markets, and banking. Her engagement includes international standard setters such as the Financial Stability Board (FSB), International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), and Bank for International Settlements (BIS), as well as central banks, government ministries, regulators, and other stakeholders across North America, Latin America, United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions. Her substantial experience spans key international issues such as prudential regulation and systemic risk and the impact of major disruptions like the savings and loan crisis, the 2008 great financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic.Acting Chairman Pham was previously a managing director at Citigroup, where she served on firm-wide governance forums and held various group-level executive roles in the chief administrative office, institutional clients group (banking and markets), legal, and compliance. Most recently, Acting Chairman Pham was head of market structure for strategic initiatives, working closely with innovation, strategic equity investment and venture capital, and business and product development teams on digital assets and other opportunities. Other roles at Citigroup included deputy head of global regulatory affairs and head of capital markets regulatory strategy and engagement.Acting Chairman Pham has a proven track record in driving transformational change and delivering solutions that add value to the firm’s franchise and clients. At Citigroup, she built global programs and teams and led initiatives for implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act and other global regulatory reforms across all institutional and retail businesses. For 5 years, Acting Chairman Pham led global initiatives for markets and securities services including G10 rates, FX, local markets, credit, securitized markets, municipals, commodities, equities, and multi-asset. Acting Chairman Pham’s past experience in the public sector includes serving as Special Counsel and Policy Advisor to former CFTC Commissioner Scott O’Malia; and at the CFTC, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), and for the former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims while in law school.Acting Chairman Pham is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. She was also a Visiting Fellow at the George Washington University Center for Law, Economics, and Finance, and has served on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Business and Finance Law Program. Her former leadership roles with the American Bar Association (ABA) include member of the Council of the Business Law Section; Vice Chair of the Banking Law Committee; and Co-Chair of the Securities, Capital Markets, and Derivatives Subcommittee. She is a former Co-Chair of the Business Law Fellows Committee, a program to develop future leaders, and also a former Fellow herself. In addition, Acting Chairman Pham has served in leadership roles on a multitude of industry forums.Acting Chairman Pham has a B.A. from UCLA, a certificate from UCLA Anderson School of Management, and a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School. Among other professional awards, Acting Chairman Pham received the National Conference of Vietnamese American Attorneys Cornerstone Award for lifetime achievement as the first Vietnamese-American woman appointed by the President to a Senate-confirmed executive branch position. She also received the 2024 Belva Ann Lockwood Award presented to one inspiring GW Law alumna each year who is a trailblazer. She was born and raised in California’s Central Valley, the “food basket of the world.”
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