MF Global clients" details published Private clients of MF Global reacted angrily on Wednesday to what several said was a severe breach of privacy, after KPMG, administrator to the UK arm of the failed futures broker, published their identities, home addresses and the sums owed to them. The list, which includes corporate and institutional clients from the UK's Financial Services Authority to the London Stock Exchange as well as numerous banks and trading entities, includes hundreds of private individuals who are owed sums as small as £3,200 and as large as £500,000 apiece. Other creditors include JPMorgan, which is owed £100m. The revelation comes as the laws protecting UK customers of failed investment firms are coming under scrutiny. While MF Global's US clients have recouped nearly three-quarters of their cash, their UK counterparts have received only a quarter. Customers" legal status has been further complicated by a UK court ruling on Lehman Brothers that treats customers suffering losses from a failed broker not individually but as a class. Under UK insolvency law, directors must publish a statement of affairs but can apply to a court for parts of the statement to be redacted if it prejudices the conduct of the administration, as happened with Lehman. "After legal advice, we considered that there were no substantive grounds to apply for a redaction and the court would be likely to reject any such application," said Richard Heis, joint special administrator at KPMG. James Nicholls, an insolvency lawyer acting for a group of creditors to the UK administration, said: "In a case like this of such sensitivity they [KPMG] could and should, in my opinion, have asked the court for permission to redact the personal identities. It is incredible that we now know the names and addresses of rich and vulnerable individuals around the whole world. He added that the breach would be particularly galling for clients based in parts of the world where confidentiality is sacrosanct. "Any US citizens will be going berserk I would think," he said. The list also includes names and addresses of individuals based in jurisdictions such as Switzerland and Italy where authorities have announced efforts to crack down on tax avoidance schemes.