Report of the Trustee's Investigation and Recommendations
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James B. Kobak, Jr. Christopher K. Kiplok Jeffrey R. Coleman Vilia B. Hayes Sarah L. Cave HUGHES HUBBARD & REED LLP One Battery Park Plaza New York, New York 10004 Telephone: (212) 837-6000 Facsimile: (212) 422-4726 Attorneys for James W. Giddens, Trustee for the SIPA Liquidation of MF Global Inc. UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK In re MF GLOBAL INC., Case No. 11-2790 (MG) SIPA Debtor. Report of the Trustee’s Investigation and Recommendations TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. Executive Summary .............................................................................................................1 A. Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 B. Summary Of Events .................................................................................................5 II. MF Global Structure: Governance, Key Departments, And Personnel .............................15 A. Corporate Structure ................................................................................................16 B. The Boards of Directors And Senior Management................................................17 C. Treasury, Finance, Treasury Operations, Operations, And Regulatory .................19 1. Treasury and Treasury Operations .............................................................20 2. Finance and Financial Regulatory Group ..................................................21 3. Operations ..................................................................................................23 D. Risk, Compliance, And Internal Audit ..................................................................24 1. Risk ............................................................................................................24 2. Compliance ................................................................................................25 3. Internal Audit .............................................................................................26 III. Regulatory Framework ......................................................................................................26 A. Securities Regulation .............................................................................................26 1. Relevant Entities ........................................................................................26 2. SEC Customer Protection Rules ................................................................28 3. Foreign Securities Regulators ....................................................................30 B. Commodities Regulation .......................................................................................31 1. Relevant Entities ........................................................................................31 2. Net Capital Requirement ............................................................................32 3. FCM Customer Accounts ..........................................................................33 i TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page 4. Segregation Statement ...............................................................................34 5. Permitted Investments for Segregated Assets ............................................36 6. Secured Statement For 30.7 Funds For Trading Foreign Futures on Non-U.S. Exchanges ..................................................................................37 7. Permitted Investments for Secured Assets .................................................39 8. MFGI Policy ..............................................................................................39 9. Daily Reporting ..........................................................................................40 IV. Key Third Parties ...............................................................................................................42 A. Clearing Houses And Exchanges ...........................................................................42 1. Securities ....................................................................................................42 2. FCM ...........................................................................................................44 B. Foreign Exchanges .................................................................................................47 C. Bank Accounts .......................................................................................................48 1. Summary ....................................................................................................48 2. FCM Accounts ...........................................................................................50 3. Non-FCM Accounts and the Securities Lending Program ........................50 4. Credit Facilities ..........................................................................................52 D. Outside Auditor ......................................................................................................53 V. MF Global History Through Early 2011 ...........................................................................54 A. Origins....................................................................................................................54 B. Becoming MF Global ............................................................................................55 C. The Dooley Trading Incident And Its Aftermath ..................................................57 D. Jon Corzine Takes The Helm .................................................................................58 E. Risk Management And MF Global’s New Direction ............................................60 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page F. The Sovereign Debt RTM Portfolio ......................................................................63 1. The RTM Strategy .....................................................................................64 2. Risk and Growth of the RTM Portfolio .....................................................68 G. Liquidity Needs And Intraday Transfers From The FCM .....................................71 VI. The Summer And Fall Of 2011 .........................................................................................73 A. Liquidity Risks And Stresses .................................................................................73 B. A Proposal For Overnight Transfers From The FCM ...........................................75 C. Intraday And Overnight Transfers After The July 28 Memo ................................78 D. Wires To Securities Customers ..............................................................................78 E. Monitoring Of Segregation Reports, FCM Balances, And Liquidity ....................79 F. FINRA And FSA Inquiries ....................................................................................84 VII. The Final Week Of MF Global’s Operations ....................................................................90 A. The Downgrades And Earnings Call .....................................................................90 B. “Liquidity Asphyxiation”.......................................................................................93 C. Transfers, Liquidity, And Segregation Of Customer Property ..............................96 1. October 24, 2011 ........................................................................................97 (a) Segregation Statement and Secured Statement ..............................97 (b) Intraday Transfers ..........................................................................98 (c) Securities Client Wires ..................................................................98 (d) 15c3-3 Calculation .........................................................................98 (e) Liquidity Dashboard ......................................................................99 2. October 25, 2011 ........................................................................................99 (a) Segregation Statement and Secured Statement ..............................99 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Page (b) Intraday Transfer ..........................................................................100 (c) Securities Client Wires ................................................................101 (d) Liquidity Dashboard ....................................................................101 3. October 26, 2011 ......................................................................................102 (a) Segregation Statement and Secured Statement ............................102 (b) Intraday Transfers ........................................................................103 (c) Securities Client Wires ................................................................105 (d) Liquidity Recap ............................................................................105 4. October 27, 2011 ......................................................................................107 (a) Segregation Statement and Secured Statement ............................107 (b) Intraday Transfers ........................................................................109 (c) Securities Client Wires ................................................................109 (d) Liquidity Dashboard ....................................................................110 5. October 28, 2011 ......................................................................................111 (a) Wire to MFGUK ..........................................................................111