CME May Face 'Liability' Related to MF Global, Goldman Says

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

CME Group Inc., the world's largest futures exchange that's fallen about 10 percent this week, may face liability related to concerns it misled regulators over what it knew about MF Global Holdings Ltd., according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

"CME has been under pressure," Daniel Harris, an analyst at New York-based Goldman Sachs, wrote in a note to clients yesterday. The concerns are "owing to worries it may face liability over the timing of communications with the CFTC following a discovery of a shortfall in MF Global's segregated client accounts," he said, referring to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CME Group's regulator.

Ouch.