By Bryan Durkin, CME Group Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, Products & Services
We are pleased to announce that registration resources are now available for the CME Group Family Farmer and Rancher Protection Fund. This $100 million program has been established to provide further protection of customer segregated funds for U.S. family farmers and ranchers who hedge their business in CME Group futures markets. For registration forms and further information, please consult www.cmegroup.com/familyfarmerfund.
Under the terms of the Family Farmer and Rancher Protection Fund, farmers and ranchers using CME Group products will be eligible for up to $25,000 per participant in the case of losses resulting from the future insolvency of a clearing member or other market participant. Farming and ranching cooperatives also will be eligible for up to $100,000 per cooperative.
Since the failure of MF Global, in which a clearing firm violated CFTC regulations and misused customer funds that should have been kept segregated, CME Group has taken aggressive action to get our customers back to business and to speed the return of customer property. Going forward, we are working with the National Futures Association, the Futures Industry Association, and the entire industry to focus on holistic solutions to further strengthen protection of customer funds at the firm level. The Family Farmer and Rancher Protection Fund therefore is a first step ? an extra security measure to protect the country?s food producers ? in what we expect to be a series of enhancements.
We continue to actively work with the industry to further strengthen customer fund protections, and we will continue to keep you updated on these efforts through our website, www.cmegroup.com/mfglobal.
