Jon S. Corzine, the former New Jersey Governor and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. co-chairman, probably will be sued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for his role in the collapse of MF Global Holdings Ltd., said a person with direct knowledge of the situation. The CFTC, the federal agency that regulated MF Global until the brokerage filed for bankruptcy in 2011, could sue Corzine as soon as this week, said the person, who asked for anonymity because the case isn’t public yet. Steve Adamske, a spokesman for the CFTC in Washington, declined to comment. The suit against Corzine, 66, would....
NFA’s Board approves expanded Fiscal Year 2014 budget
A number of factors are having a significant impact on NFA’s operating budget for Fiscal Year 2014. The substantial expansion of NFA’s regulatory duties has resulted in an 18 percent increase in NFA’s budget for Fiscal Year 2014, which begins July 1, 2013. NFA’s Board of Directors met on May 16 and approved a budget of $74 million for the coming fiscal year. One reason for the significant rise in spending is due to the registration and monitoring of new swap dealer (SD) and major swap participant (MSP) Members. NFA is currently hiring and training additional staff to manage these....
MF Global ends bankruptcy as trustee Freeh steps down
Collapsed brokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd on Tuesday effectively ended its bankruptcy, saying court-appointed trustee Louis Freeh will step down and hand the estate’s remaining wind-down duties to a new three-member board. The commodities broker, led by former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, went into court-protected bankruptcy in 2011 after investors were spooked by its exposure to $6.3 billion in European sovereign debt. The company’s liquidation plan put together by Freeh, a former FBI director, and MF Global’s creditors, was approved by bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn in April, and the plan went into effect on Tuesday. “With the plan approved....
CME Group Customer Forum Feedback
CME Group wants your feedback on their recent Customer Forum: “In order to provide you with the most relevant and interesting updates on our technology and business initiatives at the CME Group Customer Forum, we ask that you complete this brief survey. This survey will take no more than 10 minutes of your time. For additional information or if you have any questions, please contact CME Global Account Management at +1 312 634 8700 in the United States.” Take the Survey The Opinions expressed are the opinions of the author. The opinions, the trading styles, trading information and....
Reporting Requirements for Memorial Day
This is a reminder that Monday, May 27, 2013 is Memorial Day. This holiday will impact your regulatory filings as follows: Daily segregated, 30.7 secured, sequestered and daily forex statements prepared as of May 24, 2013 are required to be submitted by noon on Tuesday, May 28, 2013; Daily segregated statements are not required to be prepared as of May 27, 2013; Daily 30.7 secured, sequestered and forex statements are required to be prepared as of May 27, 2013 and are required to be submitted by 12:00 noon on Tuesday, May 28, 2013. If an FCM is required to file....
The Top 21 Chief Technology Officers in North American Electronic Trading
We have compiled a list of the top 21 Chief Technology Officers in the electronic trading industry, operating in North America. The 21 CTOs were selected based on a survey distributed through our Total Trading blog with the following criteria in mind: Excellence in building and maintaining technological infrastructure Respected selection of technological products Influence on the electronic trading industry We want you to gain a true insight into North America’s top technology officers, so we asked all of them the same questions: 1.) What has been your biggest achievement or accomplishment as CTO? 2.) Which future technology or advancement....
Outlook for IB Claims in MF Global Bankruptcy Improves, Claim Sale Opportunities Arise
Many IBs have general unsecured claims in the MF Global Inc. SIPA liquidation. As demonstrated by the recent sale of a large general unsecured claim at 90% of the claim amount, institutional players believe such claims have very strong prospects for recovery. For IBs, the good news is that not only is the market consensus that IBs should recover a high amount before too long but also that IBs may be able to sell their claims for high amounts. IB general unsecured claims in the MFGI bankruptcy stem from unpaid commission splits and float for October 2011 and also from....
Legal Updates for IBs, FCMs and Other CFTC Registrants
While most of the attention in the futures industry has been focused upon the new swaps regulatory framework, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and the National Futures Association (“NFA”) have adopted several new rules governing a variety of other activities. This article discusses some of these new rules, as well as current and upcoming changes related to NFA audits of Member firms. CFTC Adopts Transaction Recordkeeping Rules The CFTC has adopted new recordkeeping rules for registered firms regarding: (1) oral communications that lead to the execution of transactions in commodity interests and (2) written communications that lead to the....
Strengthening Customer Protections Through Re-Authorization
Every five years, the Commodity Exchange Act must be “re-authorized” by Congress. The Senate is gearing up for that process now. We hope that strengthening customer protections will be the result of these Congressional deliberations. Re-authorization presents an opportunity to change the law which governs our industry. The primary goal of re-authorization of the Act this time around should be to remove any doubt that customers are first in line in a bankruptcy over everyone else. Congress intended to give commodity customers priority over all other creditors in a commodity broker bankruptcy. The reason for this is simple: if customers....
Poll: 17.5 or 21 hour Day, What do you Say?
On April 17, 2013, the CME Group reduced grain and oilseed trading hours from 21 hours to 17-1/2 hours per day. This schedule cut afternoon hours and created a 45-minute pause in trading during the morning before open-outcry trading begins. This change back to the 1:15pm close was reportedly instituted by the exchange in response to complaints the longer hours were reducing liquidity and increasing operating costs. The NIBA took no official position in January in advance of the change as it was being contemplated because we did not receive any comment or opinions from NIBA members. Board members’ opinions....