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Wall Street’s self-regulator
?nevertheless, senior management began relying increasingly on this money to stay afloat, the report says. the firm initially made “relatively small” transfers from customer accounts, but they became “nearly a daily event” and the money was sometimes kept overnight. at one point, the report said, top executives explored making $250 million transfers on “a regular overnight basis” to support the firm’s securities business, but some internal officials viewed the idea as too dangerous for customers.
an internal conflict also arose around the use of a loophole that allowed the firm to tap customer money sitting overseas, not simply the excess. the firm used this “alternative calculation” when reporting its customer account levels to regulators. but internally, it also tracked the figures using the more conventional method, a more accurate depiction, the report says.
last summer, the financial industry regulatory authority, wall street’s self-regulator, became worried about mf global’s european debt positions and ordered the firm to set aside additional capital. the company ultimately complied, but the rebuke from the regulator rattled investors, and incited a crisis of confidence that paved the way to the firm’s collapse. |
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