MF Global CFO says he had ‘limited knowledge’ of funds’ movement

MF Global Holdings Ltd. Chief Financial Officer Henri J. Steenkamp will tell lawmakers that he had “limited knowledge” of the movement of segregated customer funds in the final days before the firm’s Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing.

“I was taken up with other very serious matters” as the New York futures brokerage struggled for survival amid ratings downgrades and regulatory scrutiny, Steenkamp said in testimony prepared for Wednesday’s House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on the collapse.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas), who leads the Financial Services investigations subcommittee, will hold a third hearing on the bankruptcy that left a customer funds shortfall estimated at $1.6 billion. Among those set to testify this week is Edith O’Brien, an MF Global executive identified by former Chief Executive Jon S. Corzine as having knowledge of transfers of funds from customer accounts.

Financial Services Committee staff members, in a memo circulated to lawmakers last week, said Corzine gave “direct instructions” to transfer $200 million from a customer fund account to meet an overdraft.