US CFTC calls emergency advisory meeting after PFGBest scandal

WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. futures regulator has called an emergency industry meeting to explore how to better protect customer money, days after it was revealed that millions of dollars of customer funds are missing at now-bankrupt futures broker PFGBest.

Scott O'Malia, a Republican commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, invited the agency's Technology Advisory Committee to meet on July 26 in Washington.

The group, which is made up of futures industry representatives, will discuss ways that banks can provide quick automated verification to customers that their funds are safe, after a roughly $200 million shortfall in customer funds was discovered earlier this week at Iowa-based PFG.

"This fraud and the fraud perpetrated at MF Global that came to light less than year ago both involve the theft of customer funds by intermediaries," O'Malia wrote in an email to committee members on Thursday. "What we need is a technology solution that eliminates the possibility of theft and misappropriation of customer funds." (Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Gary Hill)