MF Global's Demise Will Have Political Fallout

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Financial industry participants are expecting tougher regulations as a result of the rapid implosion of MF Global (MF), the futures broker that filed for bankruptcy Monday.

"The political fall-out will be significant. In the United States this means more regulation and tougher regulators," wrote Rochdale Securities analyst Richard Bove in a note published Monday. Bove also predicts Congressional investigations and accusations the Federal Reserve did not follow the Dodd Frank Act or the Volcker Rule.

"There will be a spate of new regulations under Volcker/Dodd Frank that will further reduce liquidity in the financial system. This will be the biggest impact of the MF Global bankruptcy filing. The Occupy Wall Street movement will get more support; the President will be free to be even more anti-'Wall Street,'" the analyst wrote.

Interviewed by CNBC Tuesday, BB&T (BBT) Chairman and CEO Kelly King also voiced concern about political fallout from the failure of MF Global, which collapsed following a disclosure it had bet $6 billion on European sovereign debt.

"I fear it may have political implications," he said, though unsurprisingly he argued it shouldn't. "What they do is very different from what we do," the CEO said, referring to MF Global.

In addition to reigniting concerns about excessive risk-taking by large institutions that receive government support, additional criticism of MF Global may come from the fact that its CEO and Chairman, former Goldman Sachs (GS) chief and New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, stood to gain $12 million had he managed to sell the company--a feat he nearly pulled off before deals with Jefferies Group (JEF) and Interactive Brokers (IBKR) fell apart, according to The New York Times.

-- Written by Dan Freed in New York.

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