CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama has picked three veteran financial regulators to serve the country as it faces unrelenting turmoil in financial markets and the broader economy.

Democratic officials said this morning Obama wants Gary Gensler to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Daniel Tarullo for a Federal Reserve seat.

Obama plans to announce the picks at a news conference today, along with Mary Schapiro to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission. That agency faces growing criticism for its failure to protect investors and detect trouble brewing on Wall Street. Schapiro served as an SEC commissioner in Republican and Democratic administrations.

Gensler was a former Treasury official in the Clinton administration. He also worked on Capitol Hill as a senior adviser to former Democratic Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland. Sarbanes authored legislation to increase oversight of the accounting industry and reform corporate governance.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is an independent agency created by Congress to regulate trading in the commodity futures and option markets.

Tarullo is a Georgetown Law professor who also worked for President Clinton, and is leading Obama's transition team at the Treasury Department. He will fill an open seat on the Federal Reserve board in Washington.

By The Associated Press