For Noble, banks' pullout marks deepening crisis

NEARLY three years after it was first attacked by Iceberg Research, Noble Group may now be seeing the beginning of the end. The group has lost a key banker after DBS Group sold off its US$60 million in the distressed commodity trader's US$1.1 billion revolving credit facility (RCF) due in May next year, and also closed other financing to the company.

Would other banks follow suit? That is the foremost question now, as Noble's remaining bankers would likely also re-examine the exposure they have on their books.

If they do, the domino effect - as banks cut their funding, one by one - would lead to its inevitable conclusion: the winding up of the firm.