Focus will be on ensuring proper separation and segregation of client funds.
As reported on the Shipkevich Law Firm’s blog CFTCLaw…… Following the collapse of brokerage firm MF Global, the CFTC is ordering an audit of all Futures Commission Merchants (“FCMs”) to ensure that customer money is properly protected. Roughly $600 million went missing from customer accounts of MF Global, despite clean audits by the CME earlier this year, according to CFTCLaw.
The audit might include Forex trading firms in the US (FXCM, Gain Capital, Oanda, Interbank FX, GFT, FXDD, FX Solutions, MB Trading, and several others). In the CFTC’s lingo Forex firms are called RFEDs (or “Retail Foreign Exchange Dealers”), but RFEDs are still considered FCMs.
The MF Global bankruptcy, and the CFTC’s subsequent action, highlight the importance of keeping client funds separate from firm funds. In a worst-case scenario, such as the bankruptcy of a firm holding client assets, clients can typically get their money back (or have it transferred to another firm) very quickly and easily if indeed their funds were properly segregated.
When we at LeapRate perform diligence on Forex firms seeking to join LeapRate’s Approved List of Forex firms, the very first thing at the top of our checklist is client funds – ensuring (at the time of our diligence visit, at least) that client funds are held in separate bank accounts from firm funds.