Whatever the eventual outcome of the Refco scandal, it does at least now appear that the futures part of its business will be able to continue. While its rapid disposal bears all the classic marks of a fire sale - especially the miniscule valuation given to the business in the JC Flowers offer - it can only be good news for the employees and remaining customers of the firm if it can be ring fenced from the collapsed holding company and securities business.
That is not to say, though, that questions do not remain. The first, and perhaps most significant, concerns the speed with which the scandal developed and Refco unravelled. From the original announcement of an accounting irregularity on 10 October, barely a week elapsed before lawyers announced that a...