Timing Questions Emerge on MF Global Customer Cash Shortfall

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/15/us-mfglobal-idUSTRE7AE09A20111115

2011-11-16

Presenters: 黄晨斌 王惠敏 郑艳芳

Reuters - MF Global Holdings Ltd may have faced a shortfall in customer funds even as far back as October 27, four days before the U.S. futures brokerage filed for bankruptcy protection, the Wall Street Journal said.

Just hours before the bankruptcy filing, MF Global executives told regulators they believed a shortfall had somehow occurred, possibly starting on October 27 or October 28.

Customer funds were found to be short by about $200 million on October 27.The CFTC is also examining whether hundreds of millions of dollars in customer accounts were transferred at MF Global during the week that began October 24. According to CFTC, the transfers were not recorded in the firm's general ledger reviewed by exchange officials.

MF Global filed for bankruptcy after its bets on European sovereign debt unnerved investors, credit agencies, customers and counterparties, causing liquidity to disappear.

Thereafter, regulators are seeking to find some $600 million missing from the company's customer accounts.

A spokesman for MF Global said last week that the firm is cooperating with regulators and the bankruptcy trustee trying to find the missing money, according to the Journal.

Words & ExpressionsWords & Expressions

1. futures brokerage 名词 n. 期货经纪The Company's main businesses include commodityfutures brokerage and financial futures brokerage . 这家公司主要业务包括商品期货经纪与金融期货经纪。2. ledger [ledʒə] 名词 n. 收支总账；分类账簿；分户账簿 The ledgers and account books had all been destroyed.分类账本和账簿都被销毁了。

3. unnerve [,ʌn'nə:v] Vt . 使失去勇气；使身心交疲；使焦躁；使失常 That could increase risk premiums and unnerve frothy financial markets around the world . 那将增加额外风险并引发全球金融市场的动荡。4. counterparty名词 n. 合约对方 , 对手方The more the government guarantees counterparty risks , the less the need for private sector actions . 政府担保的对手方风险越多，私人部门就越不需要自己动手。

5.liquidity [li'kwiditi]名词 n. 流动性；流动资产； [ 金融 ] 偿债能力The capital and liquidity ratios of the new Lehman would have been rock-solid . 新雷曼兄弟的资本和流动资金比率都将有强有力的保障。6. regulator 名词 n. 调控者，管理者The market stability regulator, which would make sure that the markets don't freeze up on us we don't have a systemic crisis.市场稳定性调控者要保证市场不会失去活力 , 保证我们不会有系统性危机。

7.trustee [trʌs'ti:] n. 受托人；托管人 vt. 移交（财产或管理权）给受托人Her request for money was turned down by the trustees.她的提款请求被受托人拒绝了。

Background 全球曼氏金融 (Man Financial Global Holdings Ltd.) 曼氏金融集团是世界最大的期货交易商，也是世界最大的证券市场公开上市的对冲基金运营商。集团历史距今有 200余年的时间，是英国最大的 100 家上市公司之一（属于 FTSE100 ）。 GNI touch 是曼氏金融集团新近独立出去的 MF Global Ltd （曼氏全球）的 CFD 部门，是发明 CFD 交易方式的公司，也是世界第 1 家把 CFD 交易方式介绍给个人投资者的运营商（ 1998 年）。 Man Spread trading 是曼氏全球的点差交易部门。 MF Global Ltd （曼氏全球）目前在美国纽约证券交易所上市。当地时间 2011 年 10 月 31 日，由高盛集团前联席主席，同时曾担任过新泽西州参议员和州长一职的乔恩克辛（ Jon Corzine ）管理的知名期货经纪商全球曼氏金融控股公司 (MF Global) 在纽约经正式提交破产保护申请。

美国商品期货交易委员会（ Commodity Futures Trading Commission ，简称 CFTC ） 1974年，美国国会组建了商品期货交易委员会（ CFTC ），作为一个独立的机构， CFTC拥有监管美国商品期货和期权的使命。 　　今天， CFTC确保期货市场的经济有效性，它所采取的手段包括鼓励市场竞争，保护市场参与者免受欺诈、市场操纵和滥用交易行为的侵害，保证清算过程的中的财务真实性。通过有效的监管， CFTC 能够使得期货市场发挥价格发现和风险转移的功能。 　　 CFTC 的任务是保护市场使用者免受欺诈、操纵和与商品、金融期权期货相关销售相关的滥用交易行为的侵害；培育开放、竞争和财务健康的期货和期权市场。 　 CFTC组织结构包括委员会委员、主席办公室和机构的运作部门。 　　委员会有 5 位委员组成，这 5 位委员由总统提名，参议院批准，相互交叉服务五年，总统任命其中一人担任主席。来自同一政党的委员不得超过三人。