Daley told ABC News that he resigned last week. President Barack Obama was expected to announce the resignation shortly.
A former vice chairman at JPMorgan Chase, Daley was heralded as having skills that could help Obama, especially when it came to the business community. Having served as commerce secretary under President Bill Clinton, he had shown an ability to work with Republicans.
However, Daley had a somewhat rocky tenure. Daley vented about some of his frustrations in an interview in October with Politico's Roger Simon.
"It's been a brutal three years," Daley said. "It's been a very, very difficult three years, an incredible three years. And we are doing all this under the overhang of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
