U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission member Bart Chilton said on Tuesday that he has told President Barack Obama that he plans to leave the futures regulator soon.

"Early this morning, I sent a letter to the president expressing my intent to leave the agency in the near future," Chilton, a Democratic member of the commission, said in a statement prepared for a hearing on Tuesday.

The commission is currently down one member after Republican Jill Sommers left earlier this year. CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler, a Democrat, also is expected to leave by the end of the year.