Here is a copy of an email that came to my attention today, I think it was sent because I had an account with the sender several years ago:
November 18th, 2011
Dear Valued Customers and Friends:
As the MF Global collapse has unfolded, threatening the sanctity of segregated funds in the futures business, it has created an atmosphere of distrust and confusion in the marketplace. This is an understandable reaction to the fear of losing money and business. In an attempt to offer some clarity, I offer the following perspective.
Again we have seen a major, well capitalized firm fail in our industry. The reaction by regulators as compared to the Refco and Lehman and Sentinel bankruptcies is to be questioned, but sometimes we may not have all the facts. The pressing issue, which demands immediate resolution, is not how or why segregated funds have been potentially violated at this time. What is immediately important is that the industry and regulators gather together to protect customer funds at risk in the MF bankruptcy, and that going forward our regulators have plans in place to protect customer segregated funds ensuring the integrity of the marketplace.
The Linn Group is a family owned business that has weathered the market storms for nearly 35 years. As a private company we do not have the pressures of public firms to create dividends or otherwise satisfy investors. The current nnalert environment in our industry has challenged profitability and has created pressures for interest rate enhancement. Every customer, regardless of where they have their business, is concerned about the safety of their funds. At the Linn Group our investment of customer segregated funds is a simple exercise – customer funds are in cash held at major U.S. banking institutions, or in U.S. government short term securities.
The Linn Group is also pretty simple in structure. We do not have holding companies or off shore affiliates where financial transactions might fall outside regulator supervision. We do not trade proprietarily. We do not finance or guarantee or support or advise any proprietary trade. We are not in the securities or broker dealer or cash interest rate market businesses. We don’t clear locals and we don’t allow large short sellers of options on our books. Our currency risk to foreign markets is insignificant. Trade risk on electronic give ups is minimized through size of order restrictions. We also are not a principle in over the counter markets.
We do have our audited financial statements on the CFTC website and have added capital in November to accommodate business added from the MF fallout. We do encourage you to visit the NFA compliance website where the Linn Group has zero issues-complaints-sanctions in all three regulatory categories. We do have state of the art real time risk systems and our technology and order entry systems are the envy of the industry highlighted by our release this week of the new html5 Linn Group Market Center and MC mobile quote, information, and order entry systems.
The Linn Group is profitable this year attributed to our diversification into the asset management, consulting, and technology arenas. We are committed to the commodity futures customer business and represent that 100% of our segregated funds are in cash today. We have proven again that it is not how large your clearing company may be, but how they manage their business that is important. We covet the trust our clients place in the Linn Group every day, and we are proud to say “we are in the customer business”.Thank you for your trust, your patience, and your support.
Gordon Linn
President
The Linn Group
Chicago Board of Trade
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I sent this on to a friend who had an account at M.F. Global. Here is an excert from his response: "It looks like I'm going to get only 60% of the cash I had in the account, and will have to eat the contracts I could not trade. I can only deduct $3000 of losses per year, so it'll take years to unwind the problem, unless I find a way to make money not in my retirement account, as the MF was not in the retirement account."
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There must be others on the YT forum that have knowledge of involvement with Global, Please share.
November 18th, 2011
Dear Valued Customers and Friends:
As the MF Global collapse has unfolded, threatening the sanctity of segregated funds in the futures business, it has created an atmosphere of distrust and confusion in the marketplace. This is an understandable reaction to the fear of losing money and business. In an attempt to offer some clarity, I offer the following perspective.
Again we have seen a major, well capitalized firm fail in our industry. The reaction by regulators as compared to the Refco and Lehman and Sentinel bankruptcies is to be questioned, but sometimes we may not have all the facts. The pressing issue, which demands immediate resolution, is not how or why segregated funds have been potentially violated at this time. What is immediately important is that the industry and regulators gather together to protect customer funds at risk in the MF bankruptcy, and that going forward our regulators have plans in place to protect customer segregated funds ensuring the integrity of the marketplace.
The Linn Group is a family owned business that has weathered the market storms for nearly 35 years. As a private company we do not have the pressures of public firms to create dividends or otherwise satisfy investors. The current nnalert environment in our industry has challenged profitability and has created pressures for interest rate enhancement. Every customer, regardless of where they have their business, is concerned about the safety of their funds. At the Linn Group our investment of customer segregated funds is a simple exercise – customer funds are in cash held at major U.S. banking institutions, or in U.S. government short term securities.
The Linn Group is also pretty simple in structure. We do not have holding companies or off shore affiliates where financial transactions might fall outside regulator supervision. We do not trade proprietarily. We do not finance or guarantee or support or advise any proprietary trade. We are not in the securities or broker dealer or cash interest rate market businesses. We don’t clear locals and we don’t allow large short sellers of options on our books. Our currency risk to foreign markets is insignificant. Trade risk on electronic give ups is minimized through size of order restrictions. We also are not a principle in over the counter markets.
We do have our audited financial statements on the CFTC website and have added capital in November to accommodate business added from the MF fallout. We do encourage you to visit the NFA compliance website where the Linn Group has zero issues-complaints-sanctions in all three regulatory categories. We do have state of the art real time risk systems and our technology and order entry systems are the envy of the industry highlighted by our release this week of the new html5 Linn Group Market Center and MC mobile quote, information, and order entry systems.
The Linn Group is profitable this year attributed to our diversification into the asset management, consulting, and technology arenas. We are committed to the commodity futures customer business and represent that 100% of our segregated funds are in cash today. We have proven again that it is not how large your clearing company may be, but how they manage their business that is important. We covet the trust our clients place in the Linn Group every day, and we are proud to say “we are in the customer business”.Thank you for your trust, your patience, and your support.
Gordon Linn
President
The Linn Group
Chicago Board of Trade
-------------------------------
I sent this on to a friend who had an account at M.F. Global. Here is an excert from his response: "It looks like I'm going to get only 60% of the cash I had in the account, and will have to eat the contracts I could not trade. I can only deduct $3000 of losses per year, so it'll take years to unwind the problem, unless I find a way to make money not in my retirement account, as the MF was not in the retirement account."
--------------------------
There must be others on the YT forum that have knowledge of involvement with Global, Please share.
