Who's regulating whom in the financial world

Meet the regulators of the nation's financial institutions.

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Created in 1974, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulates the nation's commodity futures and options markets by working to protect people from fraud and abusive practices within those markets. Current chairman: Gary Gensler.

Brendan Hoffman / Bloomberg

The Federal Reserve Board is one of the nation's federal bank regulators. According to the Fed, the board has "regulatory and supervisory responsibilities over banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System, bank holding companies, international banking facilities in the United States, Edge Act and agreement corporations, foreign activities of member banks, and U.S. activities of foreign-owned banks." The board is chaired by Ben S. Bernanke.

REUTERS/Jim Young

Another federal bank regulator is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which is headed by Sheila Bair. The independent agency was created in 1933 after Depression-era bank failures. The agency supervises more than 4,900 banks, "more than half of the institutions in the banking system," and serves as a backup supervisor to certain institutions. The FDIC also works to ensure that banks are complying with consumer protection laws.

Manuel Balce Ceneta / ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is a non-governmental agency that regulates by contract major stock markets such as the NASDAQ Stock Market, the New York Stock Exchange and the International Securities Exchange. According to FINRA, the association works to protect investors by "making sure the securities industry operates fairly and honestly."

Brendan Mcdermid / REUTERS

Eric Schneiderman was recently elected to head New York's Office of the Attorney General, which investigates cases of suspected fraud in the securities arena and requires "brokers, dealers, securities salespersons and investment advisers " to register with the office in order to protect the public.

Frank Franklin Ii / AP

Federal credit unions fall under the supervision of the National Credit Union Administration, an independent government agency whose supervisory role with federal credit unions is much like the FDIC's function with banks.

Rick Mccleary

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is another federal regulator of the nation's banks. OCC primarily oversees all national banks, banks that have "National" in the name or "N.A." at the end of the name. It also supervises agencies of foreign banks. The OCC was created in 1863. Its comptroller is John Walsh, and its deputy comptroller for large bank supervision is Joseph Evers (pictured).

Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images

The Office of Thrift Supervision is another federal regulator of the nation's banks. According to the OTS, it was built on the "bedrock of the American dream of homeownership" by supplying home financing. The OTS oversees savings associations and their holding companies. Its acting director is John E. Bowman (pictured).

Brendan Hoffman / BLOOMBERG NEWS

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was created in response to the financial crises of the Depression. The federal agency is the primary regulator of the U.S. securities markets and works to protect investors against fraud. The SEC is headed by Mary Schapiro.

Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

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