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發表於 2005-10-13 18:02:21
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Refco Loses Clients, Trade-Account Cash After Chief's Arrest
Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Refco Inc. customers are switching to other brokers and pulling money from their trading accounts following the arrest of suspended Chief Executive Officer Phillip Bennett on fraud charges.
Jerome Israelov, a wheat trader at the Chicago Board of Trade who uses Refco to match his transactions, will today cut the funds he keeps on account at the broker by at least half, and he said many of his peers are doing the same. Competitors including Chicago-based Peregrine Financial Group Inc. said they have won clients that ditched Refco this week.
Refco, the biggest independent U.S. futures broker, said on Oct. 10 that Bennett hid $430 million in unpaid debts dating to 1998, and that its accounts for the past three years couldn't be relied on. Back in 1994, Refco was fined $1.25 million for dipping into customer accounts to pay loans, borrowing as much as $123 million from the funds on an ``almost daily basis,'' the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said at the time.
``Whether or not funds are at risk or whatever, there's the attitude of, `why would I allow someone that has done this type of thing to receive income from me?''' said Russ Wasendorf Sr., chairman and CEO of Peregrine. ``The investor is simply saying, `listen, I am going to vote with my feet.'''
Refco spokesman Rob Solomon said the company is cooperating with authorities. He declined to comment further.
Exodus
A client exodus may halt a three-year surge in revenue at Refco, after sales grew 60 percent and customer funds almost doubled.
By Aug. 31, Refco had $4.9 billion in customer accounts, making it the eighth-biggest futures broker by that measure after banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc.
``I usually keep about $100,000 in my account, and I will reduce that to $30,000 or $40,000 or $50,000,'' Israelov said yesterday. He is one of dozens of independent traders, known as locals, who use Refco at futures exchanges in Chicago. ``There are other locals that are also reducing the amount of money they are keeping,'' he said.
Refco in 1994 transferred customer funds from segregated accounts into non-segregated accounts without disclosing the transactions to customers, the CFTC said. Refco agreed to pay the fine, without admitting or denying the allegations.
Futures brokers are required to keep customers' money in accounts separate from their own funds and to report daily to regulators on the amounts held. Because of those safeguards, that money is probably safe, Israelov and Wasendorf said.
Futures are agreements to buy or sell assets at a set date and price.
Hidden Millions
``It's my belief that customer funds are segregated and not at risk,'' Israelov said in a phone interview. ``But there's no reason to keep that kind of sponge in there.''
Traders often keep extra money in their accounts to save having to top them up should some transactions causes losses.
The CFTC, which regulates the futures industry, has the power to freeze customer accounts should it believe the funds to be in jeopardy, Commission spokesman Alan Sobba said. He declined to comment on Refco.
Bennett, 57, and unnamed accomplices ``hid from investors and regulators hundreds of millions of dollars that one of Bennett's companies owed to Refco,'' U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said yesterday. By hiding the transactions, Bennett may have helped Refco appear more financially sound as it and underwriters including Credit Suisse First Boston prepared for a $583 million initial public offering in August.
Criminal Complaint
Refco shares have plunged 62 percent, to $10.85, this week since the company disclosed Bennett's role in hiding the debt. Thomas H. Lee Partners LP, the Boston-based buyout firm that invested in the company before the IPO, lost as much as $870 million. Thomas H. Lee's Equity Fund V bought a controlling stake in Refco at the equivalent of $8 a share in 2004.
A six-page criminal complaint against Bennett lays out a scheme that the government claims began at least as early as 2004 and continued through this month.
According to U.S. officials, Bennett used loans as large as $545 million to a customer to conceal debt owed to Refco by a separate company that he controlled, Refco Group Holdings Inc.
``These events are distressing,'' said John Damgard, president of the Washington-based Futures Industry Association, which represents brokers' interests. ``But no customer money has been affected.''
Bennett paid the debt back with accrued interest on Oct. 10, Refco said.
Trigger
Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service both lowered their ratings on Refco's debt this week and said they were considering further downgrades.
``Our credit ratings are important to our liquidity,'' Refco said in a regulatory filing before its IPO. ``A reduction in our credit ratings could adversely affect our liquidity and competitive position, increase our borrowing costs, limit our access to the capital markets or trigger our obligations under bilateral provisions'' in some contracts.
Traders say they aren't taking any chances.
``People don't want to do business with anyone who is fooling around with the numbers,'' said Ray Cahnman, chairman of trading company Transmarket Group in Chicago. Transmarket lost some of its futures traders last year to Refco. ``In this business, you've got to be pristine.''
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ann Saphir in New York at asaphir@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: October 13, 2005 00:06 EDT
这个Refco Group Holdings Inc就类似于巴林银行里面Nick Leeson的account# 88888，作用是用来让Refco Inc.的财务报表显得更健壮从而在IPO中卖个更好的价钱。如果这笔未收回的债务在财务报表中体现出来，Refco Inc.的IPO价格就会比当时低。这自然也影响到8月份IPO后在二级市场上购买Refco Inc.股票的投资者。
多成立几个公司就是好，可以将不良资产或债务来回来去转，如果每个公司的审计时间都不一样，那就更爽了，审到哪个公司就将哪个公司的不良资产或债务都转到自己控制的其它公司去。那些在国外用一堆信用卡互相pay balance还债的人也是利用得这种手段。我们国内由所谓的“汇金公司”向4大商业银行注资，商业银行的资本金充足了，等于不良资本转移到了“灰烬公司”了，还不是一样？
这次Refco Inc.这笔的关联交易能在IPO前既躲过了承销商又躲过了独立审计机构，而且如果不是Refco Inc.自己将之捅了出来（怀疑是内部权力斗争的结果），到现在大家也不知道。这说明要么是那些查balance sheet的不仔细要么就是他们也乐于睁一只眼闭一只眼（自然对他们自己有好处，倒霉的都是不知情的股东）。 |
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發表於 2005-10-12 11:58:26
樓主
eople overall are worried [and] their clients are worried," said one rival, noting that know-your-customer rules limited the ability of clients to switch business quickly.
發表於 2005-10-12 12:56:54
: :twisted: