QBE Malaysia - Faces Wind-Up Demand

The Malaysian arm of insurance giant QBE has been ordered to pay over US$9mn to trade finance platform Marketlend, and now faces a winding-up demand from the Australian lender.

Sydney-headquartered Marketlend had submitted an insurance claim totalling US$9.38mn to QBE Insurance (Malaysia), after providing financing facilities to a commodity trader that later defaulted on repayments and went into liquidation.

The insurer, a subsidiary of Australia-listed QBE Insurance Group, did not pay out on that claim.

But on January 19, a Kuala Lumpur High Court judge issued a default judgement against QBE after it failed to make an appearance as defendant in the case. According to the judgement, QBE is required to pay Marketlend the sum claimed plus interest and costs.

Liquidation Order - Marketlend is now issuing a statutory demand to wind up QBE’s Malaysia business.

Marketlend is currently involved in several caases against insurers, ncluding in Australia, Malaysia and Singapore. As well as QBE, it has filed several lawsuits against Bond & Credit Company (BCC), an Australian subsidiary of Tokio Marine, after the insurer refused to pay out on claims arising from the collapses of several commodity traders.