Refco Account Security

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just got this in my inbox from fxcm:

Dear Client,

We have received several inquiries regarding the recent news surrounding Refco.
In particular, clients have asked how the news about Refco affects FXCM.

The answer is: the news has no effect on FXCM or its clients. FXCM is an
independent company with a strong balance sheet and regulatory record.
Information on both can be viewed at the CFTC website
http://www.cftc.gov/files/tm/fcm/tmfcmdata0508.xls and NFA website
http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/SearchResults.aspx?type=firm&firm=FOREX+CAPITAL+MARKETS.


Although Refco is a minority shareholder, FXCM is managed and controlled by the
firm's original founders. Furthermore, Refco has never had access to FXCM's
client or firm assets.

* FXCM's net capital exceeds $61,000,000 and is completely independent and
separate from Refco
* FXCM's client funds are completely independent and non-accessible by Refco


FXCM clients can make deposits, withdrawals, and trade as usual. For further
information, please contact our knowledgeable staff 24 hours a day. Contact
information can be found at http://www.fxcm.com/contact-fxcm.jsp.

Best regards,

Drew Niv
CEO
FXCM


now if u look at the cftc fcm spreadsheet, u'll see that refco in aug 2005 had $4.8bio worth of clients' segregated accts... not bad!

g'nite all!
 
Quote from Apex Capital:

Every single one of my posts today has focused on REFCO LLC and the segregated futures accounts that are held there.
Anyone that has been reading my posts, or this thread can clearly see this, not too mention my constructive effort at making a distinction between REFCO HOLDINGS and REFCO LLC.

By the way, you have still yet to answer my question about how the liquidity crisis at REFCO HOLDINGS will effect segregated futures accounts at REFCO LLC.

I'm still waiting for your answer.
More...

1994 Fine

Back in 1994, Refco was fined $1.25 million for dipping into customer accounts to pay loans. Refco borrowed as much as $123 million from the funds on an ``almost daily basis,'' the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates the futures industry, said at the time.

Futures brokerages such as Refco are required to keep customers' money in accounts separate from their own funds and to report daily to regulators on the amounts held. Clients of the brokerages often keep extra money in their accounts to save having to add to them should some transactions cause losses.

The CFTC has the power to freeze customer accounts should it believe the funds to be in jeopardy, Commission spokesman Alan Sobba said yesterday. He declined to comment on Refco.

``The customer's money is completely separate,'' said Leon Bressert, 42, a former Refco broker in Chicago now with 1st Futures Broker in Fairfax, Virginia. ``You can't touch it.''

Bennett alleged fraud may have helped Refco appear more financially sound as it and underwriters Goldman, Credit Suisse First Boston and Bank of America prepared for a $583 million initial public offering in August. Bennett faces life in prison if convicted.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a2O58vz1yEs0&refer=top_world_news
 
CME Statement on Refco, LLC and CME Financial Safeguards System


CHICAGO, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Inc. (CME) provides a marketplace where futures and options on futures
contracts are traded. The CME Clearing House clears, settles and guarantees
all matched transactions in CME contracts and contracts traded through the
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). The financial integrity of the CME Clearing
House is the foremost consideration of the CME's Management, Board of
Directors and Clearing House Risk Committee. CME is vitally aware of its role
in international financial markets and believes that its financial safeguard
system, designed for the benefit and protection of both clearing members and
their customers, is second to none. CME's financial safeguard systems and
auditing systems have proved absolutely effective for over 125 years to
protect customers and other members of its clearing house against any loss.
CME's clearing member, Refco, LLC, is a subsidiary of Refco, Inc., but is
a separate company with its own accounts, assets and customers. These
accounts, assets and customers are protected through a comprehensive federal
statutory and regulatory regime and other financial safeguards and risk
management protections provided by the CME Clearing House. All customer funds
are required to be segregated from firm assets, held in specially identified
accounts and are not subject to any creditors' claims against the firm.

Refco, LLC, the CME clearing member has met and continues to meet all of
its obligations to CME and remains in good standing. Additionally, CME's Risk
Committee has restricted Refco, LLC from withdrawing capital (including
current excess capital) from Refco, LLC without CME's permission and has
required Refco, LLC to submit weekly capital computations and segregated funds
computations to CME. CME audit and financial surveillance staff are also
monitoring current activities within the firm, including customer-segregated
balances, on a real-time basis.

CME's risk management and financial surveillance techniques are
comprehensive and specifically designed to:

-- Prevent the accumulation of losses through CME's twice daily mark-to-
market and settlement variation payment process. All payments to and
collections from clearing members are made in "same-day" funds.
-- Ensure that sufficient resources are available to cover future
obligations through the payment of both minimum initial and
maintenance performance bonds and with high quality collateral
specified by CME.
-- Result in the prompt detection of financial and operational weaknesses
affecting any CME clearing member firm.
-- Allow swift and appropriate action to be taken to rectify and
financial problems and protect the clearing system.

Further information regarding the CME Financial Safeguard System can be
found at http://www.cme.com/financialsafeguards .
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (http://www.cme.com) is the world's largest and
most diverse financial exchange. As an international marketplace, CME brings
together buyers and sellers on CME Globex electronic trading platform and on
its trading floors. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in
four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and
commodities. The exchange moved about $1.6 billion per day in settlement
payments in the first half of 2005 and managed $43.7 billion in collateral
deposits at June 30, 2005, including $4.0 billion in deposits for non-CME
products. CME is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Holdings Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: CME), which is part of the Russell 1000(R) Index.
Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-
looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance
and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to
predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from
what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. More detailed
information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, which can be obtained at its Web site at
http://www.sec.gov. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-
looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME, the globe logo and CME Globex are
registered trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. E-mini is a
trademark of CME. CLEARING 21 is a registered trademark of CME and New York
Mercantile Exchange, Inc. S&P, S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, Nikkei 225, Russell 1000,
Russell 2000, TRAKRS, Total Return Asset Contracts and other trade names,
service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks that are not proprietary
to Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. are the property of their respective
owners, and are used herein under license. Further information about CME and
its products is available on the CME Web site at http://www.cme.com.

CME-G



SOURCE Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.
 
This really is turning into a farce, now they roll out a laundry list of regulators, Feds, laywers etc. to each put in their 2¢ and make some fees.
I say they should shut down the affected arm(s) , return all client funds, and end this now. Quick and painless, and bar them from operating under that name again.
 
What a mess. The loss of confidence is going to kill Refco. Just scrolling through the messages posted here and it would seem that clients are going to leave in droves. I wouldn't want to be a holder of this stock. In an industry built on trust, they blew it.
 
WASHINGTON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are checking
whether customer funds are intact at Refco LLC after parent
company Refco Inc.'s <RFX.N> former CEO was charged with
securities fraud, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said
on Thursday.
New York-based Refco, through its CFTC-regulated Refco LLC
futures commission merchant, is the largest independent U.S.
futures broker.
Refco's former chief executive Phillip Bennett was charged
on Wednesday with securities fraud. Refco said on Thursday it
would halt activities at its non-regulated Capital Markets unit
for 15 days because its liquidity was no longer sufficient to
continue operations.
"CFTC auditors and attorneys are presently in the process
of re-confirming that Refco LLC's customer funds on deposit
remain uncompromised and that the capital requirements of Refco
LLC are being met," the CFTC said in a statement.
The agency said it was closely monitoring the Refco
situation.
"As part of this effort, the CFTC has been working closely
with all concerned entities including, among others, the
Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice,
the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and the National Futures
Association," the agency said.
The CFTC regulates futures and options exchanges.
 
NEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Refco Inc., struggling to survive after its former chief executive was accused of hiding bad debts to dupe investors, on Thursday said a key unit no longer had enough cash to operate, sparking a sell-off in its bonds and fueling fears of possible bankruptcy.

Just a day after former CEO Phillip Bennett was charged with securities fraud, the commodities and futures brokerage said it was halting activities at its Refco Capital Markets unit -- a fixed-income, equities and foreign exchange brokerage -- for 15 days and freezing its accounts.

Share trading in Refco <RFX.N>, which only went public two months ago, was suspended ahead of the latest announcement and did not resume, with the New York Stock Exchange saying it had to evaluate the need for more disclosure and the continuing listing of Refco.

But the news rocked Refco's bonds, cutting their price nearly in half to 40 cents, according to MarketAxess. It had traded as high as 108.25 cents on the dollar late last week.

"This company is in serious jeopardy," said analyst Kevin Starke with Weeden & Co., adding that the bonds trading level suggested that bankruptcy is an increasing possibility.

Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service cut their ratings on Refco Group Ltd. deeper into junk territory and said they may cut them again, citing substantial doubts about liquidity at the commodities and futures brokerage.

Traders said that the Refco foreign exchange trading platform had been devoid of prices since around midday Thursday, when it announced trading at its capital markets unit had been halted.

Meanwhile the U.S. futures industry braced for a hit on its reputation as one of its leading brokers melted down just as it had begun to gain new respectability in recent years.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange said on Thursday the futures commission merchant arm of Refco was meeting all of its obligations to the exchange and remains in good standing,

However, the CME said the exchange's risk committee has restricted the regulated unit, named Refco LLC and the largest independent U.S. futures broker, from withdrawing capital. It added that Refco will need to submit weekly reports on capital and segregated customer funds to the exchange.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said later on Thursday it was trying to reconfirm that Refco LLC customer funds on deposit remain uncompromised and that the capital requirements are being met.

A Refco spokesman declined to comment on NYSE, CME and CFTC statements.

An executive recruiter in London, who asked to remain anonymous, said his firm had seen a steady stream of resumes from Refco staffers looking for new jobs this week and that a team of employees was trying to jump to a new firm as a group.

Refco's downfall began on Monday when it said it had put Bennett, who had been chief executive and chairman for seven years, on leave after discovering a firm he controlled owed the company $430 million.

Bennett repaid the money on Monday but the discovery sparked a series of investigations, leading to his arrest on Tuesday night.

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged Bennett, 57, with hiding the debt as the firm prepared to go public. Refco raised $583 million in an initial public offering in August when it sold its shares at $22 a piece.

"If they find more, it could be there demise," said Denise Valentine, a senior analyst with research advisory firm Celent.


PLUNGING SHARES, AND A PENTHOUSE

The ex-CEO, who owned about 34 percent of Refco when it went public, "hid from investors and regulators the debt of hundreds of millions of dollars that one of Bennett's companies owed to Refco," said U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia.

Bennett appeared in a Manhattan court on Wednesday where a judge released him on a $50 million bond and confined him to his multimillion dollar penthouse apartment on Park Avenue in Manhattan.

Since the scandal erupted, Refco shares have plummeted more than 60 percent from a closing price of $28.56 last Friday and the firm has been hit by a barrage of at least nine lawsuits on behalf of shareholders who have lost on Refco investments.

Refco shares were halted before NYSE trading started on Thursday and had last traded at $10.85 on Wednesday. In premarket trade on Thursday they traded down to $7.90.

Separately, Refco said in a statement that it hired former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt and former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency Eugene Ludwig as special advisers to its board. It also retained Goldman Sachs & Co. <GS.N> as its financial adviser.
 
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