CME Group Inc. (CME) is poring over the accounts of failed brokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd. (MFGLQ) alongside regulators and a court-appointed trustee, delaying the release of trapped client funds until Tuesday, more than a week after the firm's collapse.

Customer funds, tied to outstanding trades and moved out of MF Global and into a host of rival firms Friday, are being double-checked to ensure that the proper amounts have been transferred and that all moves are blessed by the trustee, according to people involved in the process.

The funds originally were expected to be made accessible to thousands of former MF Global clients Monday, but CME on Sunday told traders that a "hold" would be placed on the assets until the close of business Tuesday. At stake is about $2.5 billion that belongs to the hedge funds, brokers and individual traders who relied on MF Global to handle their trades and collateral on CME's futures markets.

CME has been permitted to release about 60% of that figure, or $1.5 billion, back to MF Global's customers, shepherded by CME and other exchanges to a group of rival firms Friday.

In a client notice late Sunday, CME said it was checking whether "the correct amount of collateral was allocated to each of the customers involved in the bulk transfer of positions." Firms that had taken over the business were asked to delay distributing the transferred collateral and funds from liquidated positions until the checks had been completed.

People involved in the process said Monday that extra steps were being taken to ensure that all former MF Global clients were being treated the same. Factoring into some of the calculations are complex trades that incorporated baskets of derivatives, which has made it harder to factor the appropriate amount of collateral to move over. Other clients pre-emptively liquidated their positions overseen by MF Global, or moved their trades to other brokerages without any collateral.

Trustee James Giddens, directing the liquidation of MF Global, has also factored into the mass shift of client assets, wanting to ensure that no funds are transferred away that should remain with the estate.

The process of moving thousands of MF Global clients elsewhere has left asset managers and individual investors' hands tied, forcing them to post up new collateral to trade through different firms or sit on the sidelines while their money is transferred.

"Innocent people are being charged double margin or having to liquidate their positions," said Jim Bower, president of Bower Trading LLC, a commodities brokerage that serves ranchers and farmers. "They want their money back."

Some steps have been taken to ease the burden placed on MF Global's customer base. CME and IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) over the weekend relaxed margin rules to make the transition easier on MF Global clients that would be required to top up their accounts following their transfer to new clearing firms.

On Monday, Chicago-based futures brokerage RJ O'Brien requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture delay until next Monday, Nov. 14, its monthly supply-and-demand report to allow more time to sort out MF Global's customers. The USDA report is scheduled to come out Wednesday.

CME separately disclosed Sunday that it had been required to reverse the shift of some Canadian clients' position and collateral completed Friday. Some Canadian account information had become mixed with U.S. client data. CME said both sets were provided by MF Global.

 -By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; 312 750 4117; jacob.bunge@dowjones.com 
  --Ian Berry and Doug Cameron contributed to this article.
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