person said. Some inside MF Global worried that the expansion of the profitable trading business in New York came at the expense of its futures clearing operation, which was centered in Chicago. To drum up sales, Chicago brokers were pushed to introduce longtime clients to their counterparts in New York, a move that raised tensions. At times, Mr. Corzine seemed unfamiliar with some aspects of the futures division. In June, speaking at the Sandler O'Neill Financial Services Conference at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan, Mr. Corzine stumbled. "Right now, if you thought about MF Global's retail business, you probably could only think of -- ," he said, then paused to recall the name of the division at MF Global that catered to individual investors. He leaned over to an aide, who told him it was Lind-Waldock. 'Chief Risk Officer' "I consider one of my most important jobs to be chief risk officer of our firm," Mr. Corzine told that conference. Yet soon after joining MF Global, Mr. Corzine torpedoed an effort to build a new risk system, a much-needed overhaul, according to former employees. (A person familiar with Mr. Corzine's thinking said that he saw the need to upgrade, but that the system being proposed was "unduly expensive" and was focused in part on things the firm didn't trade.) While risk at the firm had been sharply increased with the bet on European sovereign debt, there was a compelling argument for Mr. Corzine's strategy. MF Global had obtained loans