[ by Melanie Gretchen ] U.S. regulators announced they will begin holding futures firms accountable for the cash they say they have in their bank accounts, according to people familiar with the plans.  The National Futures Association and CME Group, which oversee 45 futures commission merchants, will try to obtain independent verification that the statements received from firms are accurate, following the 2nd incidence of lost customer funds at a brokerage firm - MFGlobal in October 2011 and $200 million at Peregrine Financial Group Inc. in July 2012. The Shadow of Peregrine. In the Peregrine incident, CEO Russell Wasendorf Sr. successfully fooled NFA auditors during a 20-year fraud, in which the senior executive provided a fake post-office box that purported to be used by a U.S. bank that held more than $200 million of his firm's customer cash.  In fact, it held just $5.1 million, the NFA discovered last week. What's Next. Going forward, the association will meet this week with CFTC officials in Chicago to examine Peregrine and to look into whether the self-regulatory agency overlooked any red flags flown by the firm.  The CFTC oversees nearly 70 futures brokers, known as futures commission merchants, including Peregrine Financial, also known as PFGBest. For further details, go to [WSJ, 7/16/12].