A bankruptcy court is set to consider a plan that would return 93% of MF Global customers’ money.  That number is an improvement on the 80% that U.S. customers had previously received.  Read the full article here.   The Opinions expressed are the opinions of the author. The opinions, the trading styles, trading information and trading programs are not endorsed by the NIBA, but are the individual opinions, styles, information and programs of the author....

Six months after Peregrine Financial Group Inc. collapsed in scandal, the son of its disgraced founder is struggling to move forward. Russell Wasendorf Jr., who worked under his now-jailed father at Peregrine for 22 years, is fighting a lawsuit from a group of the firm’s former clients, who say he missed signs of wrongdoing. At the same time, the 42-year-old is trying to figure out his own next move. He has relocated with his family from Peregrine’s base of Cedar Falls, Iowa, to the Orlando, Fla., area, where he is looking for work as a consultant and considering moving to…...

On December 21, 2012, the MF Global Inc. (‘MFGI’) trustee entered into two settlement agreements with affiliates that together, if both settlements are approved and effected, provide a roadmap for potential 100% recoveries for all MFGI’s commodity customers. Such 100% recoveries would depend on an elimination of the commodity customer asset shortfall through a combination of recovery of assets from affiliates, offsetting of affiliate claims and reallocation of MFGI’s proprietary assets. This would be positive for IBs for a number of reasons. The trustee has entered into two separate settlement agreements, one between MFGI and MFGI’s UK affiliate (the ‘UK…...

The House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations released a summary of a report — expected to be released in full today — on the collapse of MF Global Holdings. In it, Republicans say CEO Jon Corzine’s decisions led to the firm’s demise. “Choices made by Jon Corzine during his tenure as chairman and CEO sealed MF Global’s fate,” said panel Chairman Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas. Bloomberg Businessweek (11/15), Financial Times (11/14), Wall Street Journal, The (11/14), Hill, The/On the Money blog (11/14)...

Many IBs have general creditor claims in the SIPA liquidation of MF Global Inc. based on commissions due to the IBs as shown on October 2011 commission runs. The deadline for filing such general claims was June 2, and the trustee reported in August that he has received $22.8 billion in total general creditor claims. The trustee’s attorneys and professionals have begun processing these general creditor claims, according to an interim report filed by the trustee on October 5. The court entered an order approving processes for the trustee to object to and settle certain general creditor claims, including through…...

By: Daniel P. Collins | Futures Magazine An agreement has been reached between Vision Financial Markets and the trustee for Peregrine Financial Group, pending court approval, that will bulk transfer up to $123 million that was part of the trustee’s planned interim distribution to Vision along with customer accounts qualifying for that distribution. Vision has agreed to pay the trustee $325,000 for the bulk transfer according to a statement on the trustee’s web site. The trustee will submit a proposed order to the Bankruptcy Court on Oct. 5, to authorize the bulk transfer. > Read the full article on the Futures…...

The MF Global trustee will soon ramp up a process for resolving the status of IB security deposits. Many IBs had such security deposits held in MF Global commodity accounts at MF Global, and the SIPA trustee sent determination letters in mid-June 2012 denying the customer claim status of those deposits. A large number of those IBs then filed objections to those denials prior to the 30 day deadline for doing so. The trustee now has a four month window from the date of each objection filing, from mid-July to mid-November, to work to resolve each claimant’s objection before each…...

By Linda Sandler | Bloomberg The Peregrine Financial Group Inc.trustee didn’t complete necessary tests before announcing a plan to distribute $123 million to customers of the defunct futures brokerage, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said. The tests were essential because Peregrine collapsed amid a fraud and theft of money by founder Russell Wasendorf Sr., the CFTC said in a filing yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago. “The CFTC is in favor of distributing money to the debtor’s customers as soon as is reasonable and practicable,” the regulator said. “Because this case involves allegations of fraudulent books and records of the debtor’s estate,…...

Notice to Members I-12-18 August 24, 2012 NFA Financial Requirements Section 16 – Required Notification of Certain Disbursements from Segregated/Secured Amount Funds and New Requirements Regarding Statement Submitters Notification of Certain Disbursements from Segregated or Secured Amount Funds Effective September 1, 2012, any FCM that makes a disbursement or a series of disbursements from its customer segregated funds account(s) or its foreign futures and foreign options customer secured amount funds account(s) that are not for the benefit of customers and that exceed 25% of the FCM’s residual interest in either of those funds account(s) based upon the firm’s most current…...

The recent insolvencies of MF Global and PFGBest, along with the near miss of Knight Capital, have sent customers scrambling to confirm the safety of their property and the financial health of their brokers. Prior to October 2011, most futures customers never gave the solvency of their FCM a second thought. Customers now find themselves on the hunt for the canary in the coal mine. In a financial world fraught with rogue traders, Ponzi schemers and high frequency meltdowns, what is the best approach for detecting a Corzine or Wasendorf at your FCM? The quick answer is: there is no…...