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CFTC fines broker that absorbed Peregrine Financial accounts

Published September 24, 2013 Updated September 24, 2013 08:35pm

CHICAGO: The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Tuesday fined brokerage Vision Financial Markets $140,000 for failing to supervise employees handling futures accounts.

The Connecticut-based broker did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The firm raised its profile in the futures industry last year by absorbing the accounts of customers from bankrupt rival Peregrine Financial Group.

Vision in May 2012 did not properly calculate a customer's speculative positions in CME Group Inc's feeder cattle market, allowing a violation of position limits set by the exchange, according to the CFTC.

A faulty back-office software program that enabled the error was discovered in July 2012 but not fixed until January 2013, the agency said. Vision used the program to identify potential limit violations for all its customer accounts.

The faulty program was in place last autumn when Vision agreed to take control of accounts held by former clients of Iowa-based Peregrine Financial. Peregrine collapsed in July 2012 after founder Russell Wasendorf Sr. confessed to stealing from tens of thousands of customers over two decades.