NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Bankrupt brokerage Refco Inc. and its customers and creditors may resolve differences over the terms of a repayment plan as soon as tomorrow, a person close to the matter said yesterday.

Settling would clear a major hurdle to concluding Refco?s bankruptcy, one of the largest in US history. A twice-delayed status hearing before US Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in Manhattan has been delayed again to September 5 from tomorrow, a clerk for the judge said.

?I think this is going to be good news,? said the person close to the matter, who asked not to be named. ?Fingers crossed, we could be close to a global deal. People are trying to work out the last nits, and hope to have something done by Friday.?

Refco had been in talks ahead of deadline tomorrow to address creditors? claims or face a possible liquidation of its Bermuda-based offshore broker-dealer unit, Refco Capital Markets. It wasn?t immediately clear how the hearing?s delay would affect that deadline.

Lawyers for Refco, its creditors and customers, and Marc Kirschner, the trustee overseeing Refco Capital Markets? bankruptcy case, declined to comment or did not immediately return calls. Lawyers involved in the case told Drain on August 24 that the parties were close to settling, media reports show.

One of the thornier issues has been whether clients of Refco Capital Markets should be treated the same as unsecured creditors, like bondholders, or permitted to recover more.

Under a proposed settlement negotiated by Kirschner, Refco Capital Markets would repay customers owed about $2.7 billion about 70 cents on the dollar, but repay unsecured creditors owed $890 million only about 26 cents on the dollar.

This prompted complaints that unsecured creditors weren?t getting enough. They argued that it might be better to instead let Refco Capital Markets liquidate, which could allow unsecured creditors to recover up to 34.7 cents on the dollar.

Yesterday, Sally Henry, a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP who represents Refco, filed a motion to extend Refco?s exclusive right to file a reorganisation plan through December 5.

In a footnote, she said that while Refco objected to Kirschner?s proposal, ?the debtors nonetheless believe that the settlement ... may serve (after certain modifications) as a significant element of a global reorganisation plan.?

Refco filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors last October 17, a week after revealing that former chief executive Phillip Bennett hid $430 million of debt.

Bennett pleaded innocent to fraud charges the following month. Refco has been selling assets to repay creditors, who have said they are owed up to $16.8 billion.

Refco shares fell 15 cents or almost 27 percent to 41 cents in afternoon Pink Sheets trading. Its nine percent notes maturing in August 2012 rose 1.875 cents on the dollar to 80.875 cents, according to NASD bond pricing service Trace.

Bermuda?s reputation as an international business jurisdiction took a hit last month when the Wall Street Journal described the events surrounding the rapid collapse of the Bermuda subsidiary.

The top financial newspaper cited a total lack of regulation of Refco by the Bermuda financial authorities that allowed ?unusual business practices? to take place which led to the company?s rapid growth and its collapse.

Refco went public on August 11 last year at $22 a share. When the firm disclosed transactions that could have been used to hide debt on October 10, its share price plummeted by 45 percent. The next day US federal authorities arrested Refco chief executive officer Phillip R. Bennett on fraud charges. Within days, client accounts were frozen and Refco sought bankruptcy protection.

?The reported: ?Court proceedings have uncovered a host of unusual practices by the Bermuda unit that appear to have contributed both to Refco?s rapid growth and to its catastrophic fall.

?In the US, brokerage firms must maintain separate accounts for clients. But at Refco?s unregulated Bermuda unit, client and company money was all tossed into a single unsegregated pool, the court proceedings have revealed. Refco routinely used this money for corporate purposes, and the commingled funds flowed freely between the Bermuda entity and New York units and throughout Refco, according to court testimony by employees and clients.

?Refco Capital Markets also made big loans to customers to finance high-risk investments. When these clients were unable to cover trading losses, the unit helped hide the bad loans, the civil and criminal actions allege.

?Refco Capital Markets was incorporated in Bermuda as an ?exempted? company, which meant it could do business anywhere except Bermuda. In fact, it employed no one at all at its headquarters address in Bermuda. New York-based employees ran the unit. In effect, it was unregulated: Neither Bermudian nor American regulators had any duty to watch over it.

?A spokeswoman for the Bermuda Monetary Authority, the nation?s financial regulator, says its main role is to protect ?retail and unsophisticated? investors. Firms such as Refco Capital Markets, which cater to sophisticated investors, are entitled to exemptions from Bermuda regulation, she says.?