Noble suspends two traders

Noble Group, a Singapore-listed global supply chain manager of agricultural, industrial and energy products, has suspended two traders in the company's aluminum business.

The suspensions were the result of the identification by the group's internal controllers of certain purchase and sales contracts that were improperly recorded - apparently intentionally - in the management reporting systems.

In a statement, Noble says that the group has fully quantified the losses involved and believes, after insurance claims, that they will not be material to the group's total results for the year.

"Although one is never pleased when something like this happens, I am heartened that our systems worked and that we quickly ascertained what happened," says Richard Elman, chief executive of the group. He adds that "viewed in the context of our total operations, the figures involved were quite small, and this just underlines the quality of the 99.9% of the people who comprise the rest of the Noble team".

Elman adds that Noble remains committed to its aluminum operations.