PNB scam may push up pricing for trade loans as rates rise as much as 0.5%

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.

Foreign banks’ reaction to the $2 billion fraud disclosed by Punjab National Bank two weeks ago, which allegedly involved fake letters of guarantee, is having an impact on financial markets. Signs that trade credit is getting tougher for smaller firms have hurt the rupee, which is among Asia’s worst performers this month and is poised for its first monthly loss since September.

Big Indian companies, which have direct access to funding from foreign lenders and don’t rely on interim guarantees, aren’t affected by the slowdown, the people said.

Big Borrowers

Spokesmen in Mumbai for Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Citigroup declined to comment. “We continue to support our clients on transactions that meet our internal controls and standards,” a spokesman for Standard Chartered said by email.

Rupee Drops

India runs a trade deficit, which means it needs a constant supply of dollars. These come through foreign funds’ purchases of Indian stocks and bonds, local exporters’ sale of foreign-currency earnings and dollar loans from foreign banks. India is one of the world’s biggest users of trade funding worldwide, according to the ICC Global Survey 2017.

Concerned about the rupee, India’s central bank is in touch with foreign lenders and is urging them to resume trade loans, the people said. Credit to exporters and importers is expected to return to normal soon, one person said. An email to the Reserve Bank of India was unanswered. The rupee has weakened 2 per cent this month, the biggest drop in Asia after Indonesia’s rupiah.

Corporate Governance Questions?

Companies use trade funding as a stop-gap measure until they receive delivery of goods or payment from their buyers or sellers. The interlinked nature of this business -- crisscrossing time zones and geographies -- means trust is an inseparable component of such transactions.

As perception about the safety of guarantees issued by India’s banks worsens, some Indians firms may now have to pay at least 1 percentage points above the London interbank offered rate on some trade loans, compared with about 0.5 percentage points before the PNB fraud was disclosed, the people said.