PFGBEST accounts - LIQUIDATION ONLY - NFA Problems!

[FCM-Reform]

The National Futures Association has put forth some additional customer "safeguard" rules in light of the of the bankruptcies of MF Global and PFG. Again, these are steps in the right direction but we believe requiring firms to publish a quarterly, audited financial statement to be a more effective and comprehensive public safeguard.

http://www.nfa.futures.org/news/member- ... 21912.HTML


NFA enhances monitoring of FCMs, amends forex capital requirements

At its November 15 meeting, National Futures Association's (NFA) Board of Directors approved two measures that will further enhance customer protection safeguards. The first measure will enable NFA to make better use of technology in order to better monitor futures commission merchant (FCM) segregation compliance. Secondly, NFA's Board approved rule amendments to increase the capital requirement for FCMs acting as counterparties in off-exchange foreign currency (forex) transactions with eligible contract participants (ECP).

FCM daily confirmation system

Earlier this year, as part of NFA's ongoing effort to further safeguard customer funds, NFA's Board approved a proposal to develop a daily segregation confirmation system that would require all depositories holding customer segregated and secured amount funds-including banks, clearing FCMs, broker-dealers and money market accounts-to file daily reports reflecting the funds held in segregated and secured amount accounts with each FCM's designated self-regulatory organization (DSRO). The DSRO would then perform an automated comparison of that information with the daily segregation and secured amount reports filed by the FCMs to identify any material discrepancies.

In November, NFA's Board approved amendments to Financial Requirements Section 4 in order to implement this new daily confirmation system. The new amendments will require an FCM to instruct its depositories holding segregated, secured amount and cleared swaps customer collateral to report those balances to a third party designated by NFA. The amended rule also states that in order for a depository to be deemed acceptable, it must report the FCM's customer segregated and secured amount balances and cleared swaps customer collateral balances to a third party designated by NFA.

The daily conformation system is still under implementation, but the first phase, beginning with banks, is expected to be implemented by December 31. Other categories of depositories will be added in 2013.

Increase in capital requirements for FCMs acting as counterparties in forex transactions with ECPs

Over the past year, NFA has observed that several NFA Member FCMs are almost exclusively acting as counterparties to forex transactions with ECPs. Specifically, three FCM Members have ceased to act as forex dealer members (FDM) but continue to act as counterparties to forex transactions with ECPs. Because these firms do not act as a counterparty to retail forex transactions, their minimum adjusted net capital requirement is only $1 million pursuant to NFA Financial Requirements Section 1.

Given the counterparty nature of these FCMs' forex activities, NFA is concerned that these firms are currently subject to inadequate capital requirements. Specifically, NFA believes there is no sense from a financial safeguard perspective that an FDM that acts as counterparty to a retail forex transaction must maintain at least $20 million in adjusted net capital while an FCM that engages in an identical type transaction with an ECP must only maintain a minimum $1 million in capital.

Therefore, NFA's Board approved an amendment to Section 1 that includes a provision requiring an FCM that acts as counterparty to a forex transaction with an ECP to maintain adjusted net capital of at least $20 million. This amendment was submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for approval on November 20.

[AnotherBrian]

I have a question. Has anyone ever sued the government and won in an instance where the regulator failed to do their job? If the regulator is supposed to check up on these thieves, and a bunch of regular consumers/investors lose their hard earned money, why wouldn't the "checkers" be help accountable for doing their job. In the end, even if the thieves are given the death penalty it doesn't do any good for the guy that lost money. I just want my money back, in under 90 days.

[FCM-Reform]

I have a question. Has anyone ever sued the government and won in an instance where the regulator failed to do their job? If the regulator is supposed to check up on these thieves, and a bunch of regular consumers/investors lose their hard earned money, why wouldn't the "checkers" be help accountable for doing their job. In the end, even if the thieves are given the death penalty it doesn't do any good for the guy that lost money. I just want my money back, in under 90 days.

I have not heard of such a case in regards to financial regulators.

[FCM-Reform]

The Futures Industry Association has submitted a comment letter to CFTC requesting the comment period be extended for one month due its concern that "increased costs imposed on FCMs will adversely affect the ability of many FCMs to compete effectively."

http://comments.cftc.gov/PublicComments ... earchText=

CFTC has received over 30 comment letters regarding their proposals to date. Most of the letters are coming from retail forex/metals traders (many inspired by the events taking place at PFG) asking for additional customer protections for retail forex. You can leave your comments below:

http://comments.cftc.gov/PublicComments ... px?id=1291

[FCM-Reform]

The Futures Industry Association has submitted a comment letter to CFTC requesting the comment period be extended for one month due its concern that "increased costs imposed on FCMs will adversely affect the ability of many FCMs to compete effectively."

http://comments.cftc.gov/PublicComments ... earchText=

CFTC has received over 30 comment letters regarding their proposals to date. Most of the letters are coming from retail forex/metals traders (many inspired by the events taking place at PFG) asking for additional customer protections for retail forex. You can leave your comments below:

http://comments.cftc.gov/PublicComments ... px?id=1291

The CFTC has now extended its open comment period:

http://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/pr6493-13

[FCM-Reform]

The bankruptcy judge for the PFG Best case is expected to decide on the complaint filed by the forex/metals account holders at PFG. AP has an article out detailing the conflict between futures and forex customers:

http://www.boston.com/business/marke...5VM/story.html

Customers who traded foreign currency through Peregrine Financial Group, Inc. say their money is sitting in bank accounts that can be traced directly to them — and they want it back. Yet seven months after the company collapsed when Chairman Russell Wasendorf Sr. confessed to a stunning fraud, they haven’t received a dime. Other customers who traded commodities such as oil and corn have received up to 40 percent back — even though Wasendorf looted their accounts to expand his business empire and fund his lavish lifestyle.

Retail forex traders still have an opportunity to tell Washington that this kind of disparate treatment of retail forex customers needs to end. The CFTC comment period on additional customer reforms remains open:

http://comments.cftc.gov/PublicComme...m.aspx?id=1320

[garyfritz]

Wasendorf won't be enjoying his lavish lifestyle any more:

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/ ... in-prison/

[FCM-Reform]

Wasendorf won't be enjoying his lavish lifestyle any more:

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/ ... in-prison/

Appropriate sentence

[FCM-Reform]

The CFTC held another public roundtable on the PFG/MF Global customer protection proposals that are now open for comment:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-0 ... aring.html


FXCM continues to advocate for greater FCM/RFED transparency as detailed below. The CFTC will keep its comment period open for one more week.


Proposals to Bring Full Market Transparency and Accountability to the Futures/Forex Industry

1) Require All FCM’s to Publicly Publish Their Financials Once a Quarter:
Currently, the CFTC publishes monthly “Net Capital” reports that disclose to the public how much money a Futures Commission Merchant has set aside in capital. However, that report provides very little insight into how well the company is doing financially. By requiring FCM’s and RFED’s to publish their audited financials the trading public will know how much risk they are taking with each firm since investors will be able to weigh the liabilities along with the excess capital that these firms have.

Furthermore, the published financial statement should include everything (i.e. holding company’s financials) since what happens to other subsidiaries of the company can easily affect the regulated FCM/RFED. Each company should be required to provide a link to its financials on its own homepage so that the public can do its proper due diligence.

Too often, those firms that are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy lure customers in by offering unsustainable gimmicks (dirt cheap commissions, account opening bonuses) that temporarily puts off the inevitable. Customers should be aware of the perilous finances of those firms that would offer these kinds of gimmicks before opening an account with such a firm. PFG Best was a classic example of a firm that used such gimmicks as they routinely low balled their competitors with uneconomical discounts that no reputable, legally compliant firm could match.

2) Require all FCM’s to Employ a Top Ten Accounting Firm:
There need to be much higher accounting standards than currently exist in the FCM world. The Platt Group publishes an annual ranking of public accounting firms that could be used by FCM’s. Whether it is top 10 or top 25, the main point is that FCM’s must use a nationally recognized and respected accounting firm that could apply the same tough standards to FCM’s that publicly traded companies must meet.

While no one proposal will guarantee that a future FCM will not fail, these proposals will enhance the public’s due diligence capabilities by bringing greater market transparency and accountability to the world of futures/forex trading.

[FCM-Reform]

The comment period for the CFTC’s additional customer funds protection proposal is now closed. But there will be additional opportunities to advance the cause of greater retail forex protections this summer. Yesterday, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow announced that she and Ranking Member Thad Cochran are soliciting comments from the general public in the run up to this year’s CFTC Reauthorization:

http://farmfutures.com/story-sen-staben ... n-17-95412

"These comments and recommendations will become part of the public conversation," Chairwoman Stabenow said. "We would like to hear from the public on a couple of fronts: concerns with commodity market oversight generally and on the need for additional customer protections in light of the failures at MF Global and Peregrine Financial. Senator Cochran and I will work together closely on this issue. The process will be open and bipartisan while the product will be consensus-driven."

Retail foreign exchange has long been in need of additional customer protections, in particular segregation of customer funds and account insurance. We expect these issues to be front and center this summer and customer backing will be necessary if we are to have any success convincing Capitol Hill to support these necessary reforms. More to come in the weeks and months ahead.