The recent much publicised cases of fraud and losses in various trading companies in Asia and MENA (e.g. Hin Leong, Agritrade, Phoenix, Hontop Energy and Zenrock) have left a deep mark on the industry. The “usual suspect” group of financing banks (e.g. HSBC, ABN AMRO, Société Générale, Natixis, CACIB, BNP Paribas, ING, MUFG etc.) was seriously impacted with potential losses in some banks going well over USD 100 million. As a direct consequence some leading banks have decided to completely discontinue the coverage of this sector, others have discontinued their activities in certain geographical regions and let their respective teams go. Furthermore, new business has been frozen and thorough reviews are currently being prepared by other leading sector lenders.