MF Global Singapore has been suspended by the Singapore Exchange. This covers its membership in securities trading, derivatives trading and derivatives clearing.

In a statement, the Singapore Exchange said MF Global has no outstanding proprietary positions. It added that almost all MF Global’s customers’ positions on SGX have been transferred to other clearing members or closed out by MF Global.

Only a small number of customer accounts remain open and available for transfer to other brokers, or to be closed out.

The exchange said it will assist with either option and continue to facilitate customers until next Wednesday, November 9. After that date, all remaining positions will be automatically closed out.

SGX reiterates that MF Global continues to meet its financial obligations to SGX’s derivatives clearing house.

In a separate statement, MF Global said that with regards to overseas exchange traded contracts, it continues to work towards closing or transferring all open positions. Where this is not possible, the company will review available options to deal with them appropriately.

MF Global reiterated that its ability to close-out or transfer open positions on overseas exchanges has been affected and may continue to be affected by the status of its corresponding overseas clearing members or the denial or suspension on overseas exchanges.

In this regard, Mr Bob Yap of KPMG, which has been appointed provisional liquidators, said: “We are pleased to announce that MF Global has successfully, in the course of the last two days, closed-out or transferred almost all of its customers’ open positions on SGX.

“For customers with open positions on overseas exchanges, we understand what these customers are going through and want to let them know that we will work hard towards enabling them to close out or transfer these positions as soon as practicable.

“In this regard, certain steps have to be followed and this may take some time, but we are mindful of addressing their concerns as soon as possible.”

Source: CNA