Blythe Masters of JPMorgan Is Said to Decline Advisory Post

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Blythe Masters, seen in 2009, came under regulatory scrutiny last year.Credit Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press ..
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Updated, 7:13 p.m. |

Blythe Masters, the head of the commodities business at JPMorgan Chase, has declined an invitation to join an advisory committee of the agency that regulates futures and swaps trading, people briefed on the matter said on Friday.

Ms. Masters had been invited to join the advisory committee of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by the acting chairman of regulator, Mark P. Wetjen. Her name was even added to a list of members on the website for the committee, which advises the agency on global markets and whose members include policy advocates, an academic and a number of financial industry professionals.

JPMorgan is finalizing a sale of its physical commodity business, creating a workload for Ms. Masters that “would make it tough for her to participate” in the markets advisory committee, a person briefed on the matter said. The bank has offered to make another one of its officials available to the regulator, this person said.

Ms. Masters, a powerful Wall Street executive who is known as a pioneer in the use of credit derivatives, came under regulatory scrutiny last year as the nation’s top energy regulator, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, accused the bank of manipulating energy markets in California.

In a preliminary document last year, the agency’s investigators said they intended to recommend that the agency pursue an action against JPMorgan and Ms. Masters, claiming that she made “false and misleading statements” under oath.

JPMorgan disputed that claim. And ultimately, the agency backed down from its investigation of Ms. Masters. The bank struck a $410 million settlement with the regulator in July, neither admitting nor denying the accusations of market manipulation.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has five advisory committees, including one on technology and one on agriculture, that meet several times a year.