UPDATE: Some MF Customers See Frozen Funds Thaw, Others Don't

CME Group Inc. (CME).said Wednesday that some former MF Global Holdings Ltd. (MFGLQ) clients may have to wait until the end of the week to access accounts frozen after the broker-dealer's bankruptcy, though some funds have finally been thawed.

The Chicago-based exchange operator and rivals began early Wednesday lifting a hold on futures-trading margin parked by customers at MF Global, after arranging a mass exodus of brokers, hedge funds and individual investors' trading business out of the failed firm last Friday.

Customer accounts that dealt in options must wait longer as the exchanges, clearinghouses and regulators ensure that all former MF Global clients are treated fairly and that some funds remain under control of the trustee overseeing the company's liquidation.

CME had aimed to complete the work by the close of business Tuesday, but said calculating the value of the more complex options positions is taking longer than expected.

The "massive undertaking" of shifting more than 15,000 customer accounts and the complexity of managing the transfer to other clearing firms has meant that "the validation of each account's collateral balance is taking longer than originally anticipated," CME officials said in a statement Wednesday.

Open trades were moved in the transfer, along with a portion of the collateral put up by customers to secure their trades. An estimated $600 million shortfall in the level of customer assets that MF Global was supposed to have on deposit has hindered the process of reuniting clients with their funds, which under U.S. law are to be kept sealed off from MF Global's own money.

Some brokers who routed their client's business through MF Global for the purposes of carrying out trades on markets like the Chicago Mercantile Exchange said that the money had appeared in their account overnight, and was available to support trades.

David Rosen, who brokers energy contracts on the floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange, said his MF Global account had finally been transferred to a new clearing firm, FC Stone, when he arrived for work Wednesday morning. Only a small amount of margin had transferred, however, and he had to deposit additional funds so he could resume trading.

"I gave them a new check so I had money in there I could use as margin and collateral," Rosen said. Although his positions and some margin were transferred, more than $150,000 in cash remains tied up with his old clearing firm, he said.

Clients of MF Global who had cash or excess margin on deposit with MF Global--not backing up any standing trades--most likely will have to file claims to get their money back from the trustee supervising the firm's unwinding.

Jack Scoville of Chicago-based Price Futures Group said he saw funds appear in his former MF Global account early Wednesday, but said getting only some of the money was little comfort to his customers.

"Regardless, we're still not whole," he said.

-By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; 312 750 4117; jacob.bunge@dowjones.com

--Dan Strumpf contributed to this article.

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