The revelations have rocked the close-knit oil trading community in Singapore, one of the world’s most important commodity hubs, and exposed the risks to banks that finance the opaque business of moving raw materials around the planet.
(May 9): The turmoil engulfing Singapore’s oil trading community deepened on Friday as the country’s police force raided the office of ZenRock Commodities Trading Pte Ltd. following allegations made by HSBC Holdings Plc that the company was involved with a number of “dishonest” transactions.
The raid comes just weeks after the implosion of legendary fuel trader Hin Leong whose founder said the company hid millions in losses and secretly sold some of the oil inventories it had pledged as collateral for loans.
