MF Global UK administrator KPMG plans to start returning to clients as early as this month some $1.2 billion of cash and assets frozen that currently is held on behalf of the defunct broker.  The move is expected to ill placate customers ahead of their showdown with KPMG next week. Richard Heis, joint special administrator of MF Global UK, told Thomson Reuters that the administrator had recovered "some 82% of client monies and substantially all of the client assets," which soon it will start returning to owners.  The pledge comes as KPMG and MF Global clients prepare for a meeting on Monday, at which time the broker's customers will take a vote of confidence on the administrator and and will appoint a committee to sign off KPMG's fee. Prolonged Frustration. MF Global UK clients have been frustrated by the slow progress recovering the estimated $1.2 billion of client cash and assets frozen at MF Global when it collapsed.  In the immediate aftermath of the firm's default, European clients complained  about an inconsistency in how their live trades were being handled - some, they say, were being sold down while others were being transferred to other brokers. KPMG responded with apologies to MF Global customers and assured all that it was transferring open client positions "wherever possible."  The administrator also moved to reassure MF Global investors in November, when it advised them that it would make interim distributions of money to clients before it had finally settled all positions. While European clients were highly vocal in criticizing the administrative process, they appear to have escaped the fate of some of U.S. clients who are coming to terms with the fact that as much as $1.2 billion of their funds are irretrievably missing.    [Reuters 1/5/12]