Alex Wong/Getty Images for Meet the Press

President Obama has approached William Daley, a former commerce secretary and a senior JPMorgan Chase executive, about the possibility of becoming the next White House chief of staff, Michael D. Shear and Jeff Zeleny of The New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the conversation.

The hiring of Mr. Daley, the brother of Chicago’s outgoing mayor and a scion of the powerful Daley dynasty, is not imminent and depends on whether the president decides to keep his current chief of staff, Pete Rouse.

More from The Times:

Mr. Daley, who was chairman of Vice President Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, helped Mr. Clinton pass the North America Free Trade Agreement, which is blamed by many union workers and liberals for helping to move jobs overseas. Mr. Daley is also the Midwest chairman of JPMorgan Chase & Company, who also serves as the bank’s head of corporate responsibility. If selected to join the Obama administration, his ties to Wall Street are among the elements of his background that would likely be criticized by left-leaning groups.

According to Bloomberg News, which first reported the conversation between President Obama and Mr. Daley, the banker could improve relations between the White House and the business community. (He worked as the president of SBC Communications before joining JPMorgan in 2004.)

More from Bloomberg: