On November 30, the CME Group sent the following notice to clearing member firms:

In consideration of the extraordinary volume of account transfers related to the MF Global Inc. bankruptcy, CME Group is waiving all transfer fees for the month of November. This waiver is not limited to the initial MF Global bulk transfers only. Given that there were many secondary transfers between firms following the initial bulk transfers, this waiver extends to all transfer trades, across all products, and across all firms for the month of November.

The latest news on the MF Global bankruptcy and fallout, published in the John Lothian Newsletter (subscribe here) the morning of November 30, 2011.

In the wake of the MF Global bankruptcy, John Lothian Newsletter has created a special section on JohnLothianNewsletter.com devoted to news, information and commentary. The section features archived news stories featured in the John Lothian Newsletter, analysis and breaking news. Check regularly for updates. See the MF Global news section here.

Maple Group hears the words “serious concerns” from the Commissioner of Competition regarding its planned purchase of TMX. CME Group lures the regulatory head of Turquoise into a new job.  Moody’s, issuing tough talk about the situation in Europe, is accused of not talking tough enough in the past. The name Henry Paulson appears in a number of blog posts today, as either having done something pretty bad, or not.  And in the top box, commentary from Doug Ashburn concerning the euro’s recent travails and behavior.

On November 29, the Office of the Trustee for the Liquidation of MF Global Inc. released the following statement:

New York, New York – James W. Giddens, the Trustee for the liquidation of MF Global Inc., today filed an expedited motion with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York seeking approval of a bulk transfer and distribution of up to $2.1 billion to former MF Global Inc. commodities customers, which should restore two-thirds or more of US segregated customer property to all commodities customers on a pro rata basis.

After evaluating the current state of the MF Global Inc. estate, the Trustee determined that this bulk transfer is consistent with his duties under the Securities Investor Protection Act to identify and marshal assets available and to maximize the estate for all stakeholders in an orderly and fair process. This bulk transfer will also further the Trustee’s goal to return as much customer property as possible, as quickly as possible, in a manner that is fair to all customers and that is consistent with the law.

The proposed third bulk transfer will complement the first two bulk transfers and the expedited claims process that were approved by the Bankruptcy Court earlier this month. The approval of this bulk transfer will mean that approximately $4.1 billion will have been distributed to former customers of MF Global Inc.

$200 million in missing MF Global money is found in Britain at JP Morgan Chase.  Fitch says the USA is AAA, but that could change if we don’t behave.  Bloomberg provides another hard look at the financial crisis of 2008, this time revealing fascinating items about Henry Paulson’s sharing skills.  Judge Jed Rakoff, wielding the Sword of Pragmatic Justice, throws the SEC-Citigroup settlement out the door on the grounds that it was a pathetic whitewash, and schedules a trial.  And in the wonderful world of wikis, MarketsReformWiki passes its 500K page view milestone, and MarketsWiki has handily zipped along past 16 million views.

The latest news on the MF Global bankruptcy and fallout, published in the John Lothian Newsletter (subscribe here) the morning of November 29, 2011.

In the wake of the MF Global bankruptcy, John Lothian Newsletter has created a special section on JohnLothianNewsletter.com devoted to news, information and commentary. The section features archived news stories featured in the John Lothian Newsletter, analysis and breaking news. Check regularly for updates. See the MF Global news section here.

In today’s newsletter: As the U.S. returns to work from the Thanksgiving holiday (along with the retail workers who didn’t get a holiday at all), a Bloomberg report reveals details and insights into the TARP program, noting in part that the healthy banks who borrowed money were in some cases not so very healthy after all.  Moody’s warns of credit rating cuts for more than a dozen European nations in light of the ongoing debt crisis.  And jobs in the financial sector are starting to disappear again.

The latest news on the MF Global bankruptcy and fallout, published in the John Lothian Newsletter (subscribe here) the morning of November 28, 2011.

In the wake of the MF Global bankruptcy, John Lothian Newsletter has created a special section on JohnLothianNewsletter.com devoted to news, information and commentary. The section features archived news stories featured in the John Lothian Newsletter, analysis and breaking news. Check regularly for updates. See the MF Global news section here.

Jim Falvey has been an attorney in the exchange and FCM space for over 15 years. He has served as general counsel of Eurex US and IntercontinentalExchange, as assistant general counsel for CME Group and, most recently, as general counsel and corporate secretary of R.J. O’Brien & Associates. He also sits on the advisory board of CMDirect, a web-based commodity trading platform. John Lothian News editor-at-large Doug Ashburn spoke with Falvey about the MF Global bankruptcy, the Volcker Rule, protection of segregated funds, conflicts of interest, and other compliance issues related to the Dodd-Frank Act.

For more on financial reform efforts, visit MarketsReformWiki.

A quiet business day in the USA, unless you’ve been a part of the Black Thurfriday Week frenzy.  Maybe by next year we’ll be lucky enough to get it extended to simply Black Post-Halloween Month. In Europe (where Jon reports that indeed, a few stores are having “Black Friday” sales, but can’t really explain why), BATS Global Markets receives final approval to merge with Chi-X Europe.  Eurex forges cooperation agreements with institutions in Taiwan. The French financial regulator, needing something to attack, picks high frequency trading.  And Andreas Wolf of Clearstream has elected to leave Deutsche Börse Group.