Businessweek

MF Global Holdings Ltd. operates as a broker of commodities and listed derivatives. The company provides access to approximately 70 exchanges globally. It is also an active broker-dealer in markets for commodities, fixed income securities, equities, and foreign exchange. The company, in addition to executing client transactions, provides research and market commentary to help clients make trading decisions, as well as providing clearing and settlement services. The company is also active in providing client financing and securities lending services. It has operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, India, Canada, Hong Kong, and Japan. Products and Services The company executes transactions for various groups institutional and retail clients and provides services, including clearing, settlement, portfolio reporting, and record-keeping services. The company also provides financing and securities lending services and other prime services to select clients, including other broker-dealers, and investment management products in select areas. PRODUCT OFFERINGS The company provides execution services for five categories of products: commodities, equities, fixed income, foreign exchange, and listed futures and options. Majority of the contracts and securities that the company trades are listed on exchanges, while others are traded over-the-counter (OTC). Commodities Metals: The company provides clients execution services for transactions relating to derivative contracts, including futures, options, forward sale agreements, and other types of instruments based on the price of metals and industrial materials. Metal derivatives are traded both on exchanges and in the OTC markets. The company is a ring dealing member of the metals exchange, the London Metal Exchange (LME). This status enables the company to offer its clients special trading access and other rights on the LME. The company is also a member of COMEX, a division of the CME Group, Inc., and other major exchanges. Energy: The company executes trades in the energy derivatives market, including futures, options, swaps, and forwards on a range of energy products, including crude oil, natural gas, heating oil, gasoline, propane, electricity, and other energy commodities. The company is an active market participant in both exchange-listed and OTC-traded energy derivatives, and provides clearing and execution services on both the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and ICE Futures Europe. Agriculture: The company delivers its clients targeted hedging and risk management solutions and helps clients locate trading opportunities in an array of agricultural commodities markets. It provides trade execution services for a range of OTC and listed agricultural commodities markets, including the grain and oilseed futures and options markets and for soft commodities, such as coffee, cocoa, and sugar, on exchanges in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. Equities The company provides execution services in both cash equities and equity derivative products around the globe. Equity derivative products include futures, ETFs, options (single stock, index and ETF), contracts for difference (where legally available), and other securities whose underlying value is related to the price of one or more stocks, a basket of stocks, or stock indices. Fixed Income The company provides execution services for various fixed income products. These include U.S. treasury and agency securities and bonds issued by European governments and by multinational institutions. The company also trades corporate bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, and emerging market securities, as well as credit default swaps and interest rate swaps. It also provides analysis and market intelligence to the Federal Reserve’s trading desks and to its clients. Foreign Exchange The company delivers access to a range of products and trading opportunities in the foreign exchange markets worldwide. These foreign exchange transactions are undertaken by its clients in connection with the purchase or sale of other instruments. Most foreign exchange