Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin, who has defended tighter financial regulation as necessary in the aftermath of the 2008 credit crisis, is stepping down at the end of August, according to the agency.

Appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009, Wolin served as acting Treasury secretary earlier this year after Timothy F. Geithner left office. The Treasury confirmed Wolin’s departure today.

Wolin, 51, was a key negotiator with Congress on the Dodd- Frank financial overhaul that was signed into law by Obama in 2010. He’s a former president and chief operating officer of property/casualty operations at Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and was a legal adviser to the White House National Security Council during President Bill Clinton’s administration.

Wolin is leaving as the Obama administration and U.S. lawmakers gird for a new round of battle over automatic budget cuts known as sequestration that would trim federal government spending for the 2014 fiscal year that begins in October.

The administration projected earlier this month that the federal budget deficit will drop to the lowest level in five years, $759 billion for the year ending Sept. 30, as the economy improves and tax collections increase.

After Geithner left office on Jan. 25 and before the current Treasury Secretary, Jacob J. Lew, was sworn in, Wolin served for about a month as acting secretary. The Treasury Department had said in January that Wolin would remain with the agency for a transition period.