Agency OK likely for rule on firms' customer funds

[November 29, 2011]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators are likely to approve a rule next week restricting how firms trading in futures can invest customer funds, an issue related to the collapse of brokerage firm MF Global.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission says its five members will vote on making the rule final at a public meeting next Monday.

The rule was first proposed by the agency late last year. But last summer, a meeting to vote on it was cancelled. Jon Corzine, the former New Jersey governor and U.S. senator who headed MF Global until earlier this month, lobbied the CFTC against the rule.

MF Global filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 31. The CFTC and other regulators are investigating whether MF Global tapped money from clients' accounts as its financial condition worsened.

[Associated Press]

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