CFTC unveils details of new customer protection rules.
As we reported was likely to happen back in July, U.S. financial regulator CFTC has published its detailed suggestions for enhancing customer protections at Futures Commission Merchants (“FCMs”), which include FX brokerage firms in the U.S. such as FXCM. Among the CFTC’s proposals are included:
- daily reporting of segregated client fund amounts
- twice-monthly reporting of the location of customer funds, and how such funds are invested
- providing both the CFTC and the NFA with read-only direct electronic access to bank and custodial accounts holding customer funds.
The new regulations are clearly a (over?-) reaction to the recent failures of MF Global and PFGBest in the U.S., where in both cases hundreds of millions of dollars in customer funds went missing right under the noses of regulators. The PFGBest case, although smaller, was especially interesting, as it turns out that former PFGBest Chairman Russell Wasendorf was actually doctoring bank documents, hiding the missing client funds from regulators for years.
Before being finalized, the proposals will be open for public comment for 60 days after formal publication in the Federal Register.
For the full text of the CFTC’s proposal clck here.
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