KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB GROUP HOLDINGS BHD fell over 3% in early trade Wednesday after the bank is believed to have exposure to Singapore’s Hin Leong Trading (Pte) Ltd (HLT).

The bank shed 3.6%, or 13 sen to RM3.48 with 2.16 million shares traded.

CIMB is believed to have a significant exposure to the troubled oil trader HLT that owes almost US$4bil to more than 20 banks, including DBS Group Holdings Ltd, HSBC Holdings Plc and Standard Chartered Plc.

Singapore police said they have launched an investigation following news that the founder of HLT had told the company not to disclose hundreds of millions of dollars in losses over several years.

The Singapore Police Force did not specify the focus of the investigation and declined to elaborate.

It has been reported that HLT now owes some US$3.85bil to 23 lenders, including HSBC, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered and Deutsche Bank.

HSBC has the biggest exposure at about US$600mil while Singapore's three biggest lenders are owed a combined US$500mil or thereabouts.