An employee checks aluminium ingots for export at Qingdao Port, Shandong Province, in this file photo.

    As global banks and trading houses fire off lawsuits over their estimated US$900 million exposure to a suspected metal financing fraud in China, the tangled legal battle to recoup losses is set to drag on for years and hinder a swift recovery in metal trade. HSBC is the latest bank to launch legal action since Chinese authorities started a probe into whether the firm at the center of the allegations, Decheng Mining, used fake warehouse receipts to obtain multiple loans.

    SD-Agencies