Drew Bowden, 53, will return to the private sector, the SEC said in a statement Tuesday without specifying his employment plans.

While the SECs involvement provides the brokerage industry another front for battling the White House plan, it also gives the Labor Department cover to proceed on its own.

The agency, she says, should implement a uniform fiduciary duty for broker-dealers and investment advisers where the standard is to act in the best interest of the investor.

It is a false choice, he says, to suggest that the only way to continue the business of providing financial service advice to folks is the status quo.

The SEC is being drawn into the middle of what promises to be one of the most bruising Wall Street lobbying battles in years.

The White House threw its weight behind a DOL proposal to make it harder for brokers to push higher-fee mutual funds or other expensive products on people saving for life after work.

The White House memo said abusive trading practices cost investors $8 billion to $17 billion a year.

The SEC says 88 percent of brokerages and 74 percent of money-management firms have been victims of cyberattacks directly or through a vendor.