Financial Instruments with Off-Balance Sheet Risk and Concentrations of Credit Risk

9 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2012

Financial Instruments with Off-Balance Sheet Risk and Concentrations of Credit Risk [Abstract]

Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities Disclosure [Text Block]

Financial Instruments with Off-Balance Sheet Risk and Concentrations of Credit Risk

The Company is party to certain financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk in the normal course of its business. The Company has sold financial instruments that it does not currently own and will therefore be obliged to purchase such financial instruments at a future date. The Company has recorded these obligations in the condensed consolidated financial statements as of June 30, 2012 at the fair values of the related financial instruments. The Company will incur losses if the fair value of the underlying financial instruments increases subsequent to June 30, 2012. The total of $176.5 million as of June 30, 2012 includes $43.1 million for derivative contracts, which represent a liability to the Company based on their fair values as of June 30, 2012.

Derivatives

The Company utilizes derivative products in its trading capacity as a dealer in order to satisfy client needs and mitigate risk. The Company manages risks from both derivatives and non-derivative cash instruments on a consolidated basis. The risks of derivatives should not be viewed in isolation, but in aggregate with the Company’s other trading activities. The majority of the Company’s derivative positions are included in the consolidated balance sheets within ‘financial instruments owned, at fair value’, ‘deposits and receivables from exchange-clearing organizations’ and ‘financial instruments sold, not yet purchased, at fair value’.

The Company continues to employ an interest rate risk management strategy, implemented in April 2010, that uses derivative financial instruments in the form of interest rate swaps to manage a portion of the aggregate interest rate position. The Company’s objective is to invest the majority of customer segregated deposits in high quality, short-term investments and swap the resulting variable interest earnings into the medium-term interest stream, by using a strip of interest rate swaps that mature every quarter, in order to achieve the two year moving average of the two year swap rate. The risk mitigation of these interest rate swaps is not within the documented hedging designation requirements of the Derivatives and Hedging Topic of the ASC, and as a result they are recorded at fair value, with changes in the fair value of the financial instruments recorded within 'trading gains' in the condensed consolidated income statements. As of June 30, 2012, approximately $765 million in notional principal of interest rate swaps were outstanding with a weighted-average life of 9 months.

Listed below are the fair values of the Company's derivative assets and liabilities as of June 30, 2012 and September 30, 2011. Assets represent net unrealized gains and liabilities represent net unrealized losses.

	June 30, 2012						September 30, 2011
(in millions)	Assets (1)			Liabilities (1)			Assets (1)			Liabilities (1)
Derivative contracts not accounted for as hedges:
Exchange-traded commodity derivatives	$	3,164.4		$	3,594.6		$	7,074.2		$	6,062.4
OTC commodity derivatives	818.7			813.3			763.7			780.1
Exchange-traded foreign exchange derivatives	73.6			54.2			126.9			89.8
OTC foreign exchange derivatives (2)(3)	423.2			462.4			1,074.3			1,118.9
Interest rate derivatives	3.0			1.6			5.5			2.8
Equity index derivatives	13.0			17.4			71.7			79.7
Gross fair value of derivative contracts	4,495.9			4,943.5			9,116.3			8,133.7
Impact of netting and collateral	(4,685.6		)	(4,900.4		)	(9,262.6		)	(8,010.8		)
Total fair value included in ‘Deposits and receivables from exchange-clearing organizations’	$	(238.5	)				$	(264.3	)
Total fair value included in 'Deposits and receivables from broker-dealers, clearing organizations and counterparties'	$	1.0					$	16.1
Total fair value included in ‘Financial instruments owned, at fair value’	$	47.8					$	101.9
Fair value included in ‘Financial instruments sold, not yet purchased, at fair value’				$	43.1					$	122.9

(1) As of June 30, 2012 and September 30, 2011, the Company’s derivative contract volume for open positions was approximately 3.9 million and 3.9 million contracts, respectively.

(2) In accordance with agreements with counterparties, the Company is allowed to periodically take advances against its open trade fair value. There were no advances against open trade fair value outstanding as of June 30, 2012 and September 30, 2011.

(3) In accordance with agreements with counterparties, the Company has to maintain a sufficient margin collateral balance based on the value of the open positions. These amounts exclude deposits with the counterparties for margin collateral, which are included in the netting and collateral line, of $34.8 million and $53.5 million as of June 30, 2012 and September 30, 2011.

The Company’s derivative contracts are principally held in its Commodities and Risk Management Services ("C&RM") segment. The Company assists its C&RM segment customers in protecting the value of their future production by entering into option or forward agreements with them on an OTC basis. The Company also provides its C&RM segment customers with sophisticated option products, including combinations of buying and selling puts and calls. The Company mitigates its risk by offsetting the customer's transaction simultaneously with one of the Company's trading counterparties or with a similar but not identical position on the exchange. The risk mitigation of these offsetting trades is not within the documented hedging designation requirements of the Derivatives and Hedging Topic of the ASC. These derivative contracts are traded along with cash transactions because of the integrated nature of the markets for these products. The Company manages the risks associated with derivatives on an aggregate basis along with the risks associated with its proprietary trading and market-making activities in cash instruments as part of its firm-wide risk management policies. In particular, the risks related to derivative positions may be partially offset by inventory, unrealized gains in inventory or cash collateral paid or received.

The following table sets forth the Company's gains (losses) related to derivative financial instruments for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2012 and 2011, in accordance with the Derivatives and Hedging Topic of the ASC. The gains (losses) set forth below are included within ‘trading gains’ in the condensed consolidated income statements.

	Three Months Ended June 30,				Nine Months Ended June 30,
(in millions)	2012		2011		2012		2011
Gains from derivative contracts	$	76.1	$	33.2	$	102.7	$	6.8

Credit Risk

In the normal course of business, the Company purchases and sells financial instruments, commodities and foreign currencies as either principal or agent on behalf of its customers. If either the customer or counterparty fails to perform, the Company may be required to discharge the obligations of the nonperforming party. In such circumstances, the Company may sustain a loss if the fair value of the financial instrument or foreign currency is different from the contract value of the transaction.

The majority of the Company’s transactions and, consequently, the concentration of its credit exposure are with commodity exchanges, customers, broker-dealers and other financial institutions. These activities primarily involve collateralized and uncollateralized arrangements and may result in credit exposure in the event that a counterparty fails to meet its contractual obligations. The Company’s exposure to credit risk can be directly impacted by volatile financial markets, which may impair the ability of counterparties to satisfy their contractual obligations. The Company seeks to control its credit risk through a variety of reporting and control procedures, including establishing credit limits based upon a review of the counterparties’ financial condition and credit ratings. The Company monitors collateral levels on a daily basis for compliance with regulatory and internal guidelines and requests changes in collateral levels as appropriate.

The Company is a party to financial instruments in the normal course of its business through customer and proprietary trading accounts in exchange-traded and OTC derivative instruments. These instruments are primarily the execution of orders for commodity futures, options on futures and forward foreign currency contracts on behalf of its customers, substantially all of which are transacted on a margin basis. Such transactions may expose the Company to significant credit risk in the event margin requirements are not sufficient to fully cover losses which customers may incur. The Company controls the risks associated with these transactions by requiring customers to maintain margin deposits in compliance with individual exchange regulations and internal guidelines. The Company monitors required margin levels daily and, therefore, may require customers to deposit additional collateral or reduce positions when necessary. The Company also establishes credit limits for customers, which are monitored daily. The Company evaluates each customer’s creditworthiness on a case by case basis. Clearing, financing, and settlement activities may require the Company to maintain funds with or pledge securities as collateral with other financial institutions. Generally, these exposures to both customers and exchanges are subject to master netting, or customer agreements, which reduce the exposure to the Company by permitting receivables and payables with such customers to be offset in the event of a customer default. Management believes that the margin deposits held as of June 30, 2012 and September 30, 2011 were adequate to minimize the risk of material loss that could be created by positions held at that time. Additionally, the Company monitors collateral fair value on a daily basis and adjusts collateral levels in the event of excess market exposure. Generally, these exposures to both customers and counterparties are subject to master netting or customer agreements which reduce the exposure to the Company.

The Company is also a party to a guarantee of payment and performance by a third party of an ethanol marketing agreement with a risk management customer which would require the Company to purchase the output of the customer if the third party could not perform under the marketing agreement. The guarantee does not have a set term, and the underlying agreement cannot be terminated by the third party unless the customer breaches the agreement. The maximum potential amount of future payments required under the guarantee cannot be estimated because the underlying marketing agreement does not specify the amount or the price of the ethanol to be purchased during the term of the agreement. The price of the ethanol to be purchased is at the discretion of the Company.

Derivative financial instruments involve varying degrees of off-balance sheet market risk whereby changes in the fair values of underlying financial instruments may result in changes in the fair value of the financial instruments in excess of the amounts reflected in the condensed consolidated balance sheets. Exposure to market risk is influenced by a number of factors, including the relationships between the financial instruments and the Company’s positions, as well as the volatility and liquidity in the markets in which the financial instruments are traded. The principal risk components of financial instruments include, among other things, interest rate volatility, the duration of the underlying instruments and changes in foreign exchange rates. The Company attempts to manage its exposure to market risk through various techniques. Aggregate market limits have been established and market risk measures are routinely monitored against these limits.