Bank Fraud Fallout in India Spreads to Market for Trade Finance

  • Citigroup, Deutsche, HSBC, StanChart are said to turn wary
  • PNB fraud is said to have pushed up pricing for trade loans
Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg
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The fallout from India’s biggest banking fraud is spreading to the market for trade financing, as foreign lenders become more reluctant to accept the guarantees from their local counterparts that underpin the loans.

Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, Standard Chartered Plc and HSBC Holdings Plc are among banks reducing exposure to these transactions, used by smaller companies to access short-term dollar funding, said people with knowledge of the matter. As questions are raised about the creditworthiness of guarantees from Indian state-run banks, rates have risen by as much as 0.5 percentage point for some types of financing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private.