May 7, 2020
StanChart and HSBC face losses on loans to rice trader
Standard Chartered and HSBC are facing losses of millions of dollars in loans to one of the world's largest rice traders, in the latest of a string of high-profile blow-ups and scandals to hit the commodity trading industry. Phoenix traded 12m tonnes of commodities and goods last year and claims to be one of the largest rice distribution companies in the world. These include the implosion of Singapore energy trader Hin Leong, the collapse of Agritrade International and Hontop Energy. The liquidators report states that Phoenix's hedging losses were "Disastrously compounded" by a Dubai-based derivatives trader "Exceeding his authority" by allegedly placing several additional bets on currency markets in an attempt to recover previous losses. The liquidators report also raises the possibility of the BVI holding company seeking damages from the losses incurred by the company's Dubai trading outpost for the "Benefit of the company's creditors".
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