[Photo: Jay Clayton / YouTube]

Wall Street lawyer Jay Clayton, who has worked on high-profile IPOs, such as Alibaba Group, is reportedly a leading candidate to head the SEC in the Trump administration. Clayton is a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell who specializes in public and private mergers and offerings, an area that requires expertise on complex securities regulations and corporate governance.

He met with President-elect Donald Trump on December 22 and appears to have overtaken a former U.S. Attorney, Debra Wong Yang, whose name had been floated as a top candidate in early December.

During the height of the 2008 financial crisis, Clayton worked on major deals involving big banks, including Barclays Capital's acquisition of Lehman Brothers' assets, the sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase, and the U.S. Treasury Department's capital investment in Goldman Sachs, according to his law firm's web site.

Under Current SEC Chair Mary Jo White, a former federal prosecutor, the SEC increased its focus on enforcement. Some investors now say they’d like to see the chair be an expert not only in enforcement matters, but have a greater understanding of markets and trading issues as U.S. firms face greater competition for global capital.