Sep 22, 2015 06:55 PM

Commodities Exchange in Yunnan Ran 43 Bln Yuan Scam, Investors Say

By staff reporters Liu Caiping and Jia Huajie

Protestors fearful they have lost investments sold to them by a commodities exchange hold up banners in front of the securities regulator's offices in Beijing on September 21

(Beijing) – A protest in front of the securities regulator's office in the capital by more than 100 investors who felt they had been the victims of a scam that one analyst says resembles a Ponzi scheme has put the spotlight on a government-backed nonferrous metals exchange in the southwestern province of Yunnan.

The crowd gathered in front of the offices of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on September 21 to demand regulators intervene in what investors said was a 43 billion yuan fraud involving the Fanya Metal Exchange, a four-and-half-year-old trading platform for nonferrous metals in Kunming, Yunnan's capital.