Senator Chuck Grassley made the comment below after customer accounts at PFGBest, a futures broker, were frozen yesterday due to possible accounting irregularities.
Last year, Senator Grassley participated in oversight hearings of the Senate Agriculture Committee seeking information and accountability for the loss of up to $1.2 billion in MF Global customer funds, including money from Iowa farmers, grain coops and brokers.
Grassley comment:
"Whether there is an issue with segregated customer accounts, or it's something else, PFGBest served a lot of Iowa customers who are going to have questions about how this is going to affect their accounts.
"From a systemic standpoint, the question is whether there is effective oversight in our commodity trading system. People need to have confidence in our commodity trading system in order for it to work for farmers and investors the way it's intended. I want to know if the existing set up with the National Futures Association and the Commodity Futures Trade Association is working to safeguard this marketplace. Regulators need to be on the ground working diligently to sort out what's going on, and I would expect the Senate Agriculture Committee to look into this matter in the same way it continues looking into MF Global."
