Although the sums of money involved may not seem substantial to those on Wall Street and in Washington, to the retail customers and their families it represents a significant amount of their savings and liquid net worth.
It was weighing heavily on their minds.
While I am glad to see the customers obtaining their funds, I cannot again help but note the disgraceful manner in which the government, the exchange, and the regulators, the CFTC and the SEC, allowed this theft of customer funds to unfold, especially the manner in which the Banks twisted the aftermath to their own advantage.
And Jon Corzine and his good friend Barack Obama should be ashamed.
Reuters
Barclays, Seaport eye bulk buys of MF Global claims
By Nick Brown and Ann Saphir
Mar 15, 2012 9:26pm EDT
(Reuters) - Barclays PLC and the Seaport Group have separately begun working to group together thousands of MF Global customer claims with an eye toward acquiring the claims in bulk, according to an attorney, and to a term sheet obtained by Reuters.
Barclays and Seaport, which have been in talks with customer groups to acquire claims at more than 90 cents on the dollar, are looking at ways to bundle smaller claims to make bigger bulk purchases, according to a term sheet from customer advocate group the Commodity Customer Coalition.
The coalition, which negotiated the offers, sent the term sheet to thousands of customer constituents this week, saying offers from Seaport and Barclays were contingent on the size of the claim.
Seaport has said it will only take on claims worth $100,000 or more, according to the sheet.
Trace Schmeltz, an attorney for the coalition, told Reuters on Thursday his firm, Barnes & Thornburg, will work with Seaport to find ways to bundle.
"They asked if we'd do it, and we have a team in place to help them," Schmeltz said.
Meanwhile, Barclays this week cold-called R.J. O'Brien, the futures broker with the most former MF Global clients, to seek the firm's help in reaching potential sellers.
"They asked to have a meeting with us to share with us the plan that they have in mind," the broker's chief executive, Gerald Corcoran, told Reuters at the Futures Industry Association's annual meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, on Tuesday. "If we can do it, we will facilitate" communication between Barclays and customers interested in selling their claims, Corcoran said.
Some $1.6 billion of customer funds originally parked with MF Global went missing after the broker's failure last October. James Giddens, the trustee charged with recovering client funds, has paid back about 72 percent of the money in commodity trading accounts.
Customers with foreign exchange claims have so far received nothing from the trustee.
More than 27,000 clients have filed claims with the trustee to retrieve the balance in their accounts, and it is these claims Barclays and others are after.
A spokesperson for Seaport did not return a call seeking comment. A Barclays spokesman declined to comment.
According to the coalition's term sheet, Seaport has offered 91.25 cents on the dollar to acquire claims for customers who traded on U.S. exchanges, and 66.25 cents for claims belonging to customers who traded on foreign exchanges.
Barclays has offered 91 cents and 66 cents, respectively, for U.S. exchange and foreign exchange claims belonging to institutions. It has offered 90 cents and 65 cents, respectively, for U.S. exchange and foreign exchange claims belonging to individuals.
Royal Bank of Scotland has made an offer for institutional accounts equal to Barclays', but the coalition is not touting RBS' offer to customers because the bank refused to take on individual accounts, according to the sheet.
A spokesperson for RBS could not be immediately reached on Thursday.
