Trading on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was slow on Monday partly because positions of the British unit of MF Global had not been transferred to new brokers a week after the U.S. firm filed for bankruptcy protection, traders said.

Traders said LCH.Clearnet, which was handling the migration of positions, had informed them it planned to make transfers by Friday, but this had not occurred.

A spokeswoman for the clearing house declined to comment on the progress of transfers.

A dealer at a bank that trades in the LME ring said the delays were creating problems on the LME, the world's biggest market for industrial metals.

Nothing has happened yet. We are waiting for it every hour. Therefore customers are reluctant to put on any more new trades before they know what has happened with the old ones, he said.

It is very, very quiet, volumes are low this morning.

Another industry source said: Transfers have been slow and a bit chaotic.

In some cases, former MF Global clients had not yet gone through the procedures necessary to transfer their positions, another LME trader said.

Some people have not done anything about their positions, they are not really sure what to do, it takes time, there's paperwork to be filled in etc. etc., he said.

The LME referred enquiries about the transfer of positions to the clearing house.

The spokeswoman for LCH.Clearnet urged clients of MF Global, which filed for bankruptcy protection on October 31, to utilize links on its website so their positions could be transferred.

She declined to comment on whether there were issues with customers having to post additional margin on the positions being transferred.

CME Group and IntercontinentalExchange Inc. moved over the weekend to lower margin requirements on some MF Global accounts to limit the fallout of the bankruptcy on futures markets.

(Additional reporting by Susan Thomas; Editing by Anthony Barker)

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