MF Global announcement

You bet that they are losing customers. A company like MF Global, offering a joke of a backoffice platform like "EMidas" must be either incompetent or short of money to implement real time equity and P/L systems that are suitable for CTA´s, asset managers, investment advisories and traders.

Also, the prcing policy of their brokers is a joke. Selling $5 per round turn tickets to high volume traders is an insult.

A Vice President from New York was offering me $5 per round turn for 12.000 round turns per $1 million equity per month.

LOL! MFG does not deserve better than their way below $1 for their stock.

 

This is just pure nonsense !!! We are long term clients and pay 10 euro cents per contract - you tell me any clearer that is cheaper on high volume. Service is good and we never had any issues.
Now as they evolve to a proprietary trading company i am not sure wether i want to keep my assets there. One day they lose billions and your money is gone.

 

As long as clients don't start pulling money on loss of faith or we'll have another refco style domino, having said that i'd be pulling my funds. -75% share price since August...

 

Corzine’s ‘2nd Goldman’ hit by hard realities

By MARK DECAMBRE

Last Updated: 5:17 AM, October 26, 2011

Posted: 11:01 PM, October 25, 2011

Wall Street veteran Jon Corzine is fast learning that the road to becoming the next Goldman Sachs is paved with losses, downgrades and more than a little disappointment.

The 64-year-old former Goldman co-chairman, who has led MF Global for 19 months, yesterday reported the smaller broker-dealer rang up an astounding loss of $186.6 million in the third quarter -- its largest loss ever.

The red ink sparked investor fear of another Lehman Brothers-like collapse and crushed the stock, which fell 48 percent on the day to $1.86. Over the past 12 months, shares of New York-based MF have tumbled 76 percent.

That’s more than double Goldman’s 36-percent decline -- which is significant, since Corzine, the former New Jersey governor and US senator, vowed to reshape the sleepy MF into a Goldman-like powerhouse.

Along with the eye-popping loss, MF reported that it harbored $6.4 billion in short-term positions in troubled European debt.

To put that in perspective: Goldman reported $2.5 billion of net exposures in sovereign debt, and rival Morgan Stanley reported that it held $2.1 billion in net exposure to European debt.

The market’s brutal assault on MF came even as the institution attempted to provide greater transparency to investors by moving the planned date of its results release up to yesterday from tomorrow.

“Without question, this quarter’s market environment was as difficult as any of those that I’ve experienced in my 30-plus years in finance,” said Corzine in a statement.

The results sent Corzine into a mad dash of phone calls and one-on-one meetings with investors and analysts to calm the market’s worst fears.

MF’s crisis moment comes after Corzine unveiled a plan a year ago to shake up the firm from a sleepy broker-dealer into a mini-investment bank set on cashing in on the void in trading created by Goldman, Morgan Stanley and others moving out. So far, that game plan hasn’t paid off.

Making matters worse, Moody’s Investors Service on Monday downgraded the firm one notch to Baa3 -- just one peg above a dreaded junk-bond status.

Considered one of Wall Street’s luminaries, Corzine boasts a storied career, highlighted by running Goldman in 1994 until he was forced out five years later, just before the gold-plated firm went public.

The Goldman IPO reportedly minted the banker-turned-politician a more-than-$400-million payday -- enough to recast him as a heavy hitter in political circles.

That was until he lost a bid for re-election to the statehouse in 2009 to Chris Christie.

Sandler O’Neill brokerage analyst Rich Repetto says he continues to maintain a “buy” rating on MF stock. The analyst told The Post that he’s cautiously optimistic about the bank’s ability to navigate this current rocky period.

“Can I guarantee they won’t go under? No,” he said. “But of the risk that we know about, I think the firm can manage them.”

For Corzine, MF Global’s abysmal performance places his firm in Goldman’s league after the gold-plated company rang up $393 million in losses last quarter.

how can anyone trust a ceo who was the governor of a state and was sleeping with the head of a union while negotiating a contract with them?

 

There is no SIPC insurance for commodities accounts at MF. If you are an MF brokerage client, you gotta ask yourself, "Do you feel lucky punk?"

 

$MF Hires Investment Banks To Explore Mergers, Strategic Options - Source, WSJ. Stock up 8%

http://twitter.com/Benzinga/status/129196312649400320

 

In what way they evolve to a proprietary trading company ?

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-26/corzine-s-mf-enters-distress-with-18-yields.html

"Corzine’s MF Global Enters Distress With 18% Yields"

stock breaks below yesterday's low of $1.75 .... last $1.65

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/10/26/corzines-mf-global-to-explore-mergers/?mod=wsj_share_twitter

Corzine’s MF Global to Explore Possible Sale

" MF Global Holdings Ltd. hired investment bank Evercore Partners Inc. and at least one other bank to help it determine whether it should sell itself to another company, pursue mergers or other strategic options such as asset sales, according to a person familiar with the matter….

" MF Global’s board voted on the decision to explore strategic options Wednesday morning, according to the person familiar with the company. The name of the second bank besides Evercore couldn’t be determined, and more banks could be hired."

***

full article here:

"MF Global Weighs Strategic Options"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203687504576654992676019306.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

 

From the above Bloomberg article
(http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-26/corzine-s-mf-enters-distress-with-18-yields.html)

and highlighted at ZeroHedge
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/will-...oner-terminal-collateral-calls-yields-explode

(title: Will Goldman Be MF Global's Executioner With Terminal Collateral Calls, As Yields Explode?")

"Analysts at KBW Inc., led by Niamh Alexander, wrote in a note yesterday that the Moody’s downgrade and lower earnings could cause a ripple effect on the company, raising borrowing costs and triggering collateral calls. “It also exposes MF to collateral calls of up to $5 million,” the note said. “We believe it could also prompt lenders to reduce financing, clients to withdraw assets and trigger the need to recognize losses on certain bilateral over- the-counter and off-balance sheet transactions."