Last week's revelations about the millions of dollars owed to Refco by its own chairman and chief executive, Phil Bennett, has left more questions than answers, even after the hailstorm of media coverage the situation has attracted. Perhaps the only thing that can be said for certain is that the Refco scandal, coupled with the recent allegations concerning Man Financial, have once again brought the derivatives industry to the forefront of the world's mainstream media - and once again it has got there for all the wrong reasons.
Of course it is a truism that, to the man on the street, futures and options don't bring anything to mind beyond Nick Leeson, Barings and possibly Enron. Moreover, the inherent complexity of the business means that even the mainstream...