Justice Neville Owen, the former HIH royal commissioner, has spent 404 sitting days listening to arguments from 20 banks as well as the liquidators for Alan Bond's collapsed Bell Group who are suing the financial institutions for up to $1.5 billion.

The case was instigated in 1995 by liquidator Tony Woodings who is seeking the $1.5 billion from the 20 Australian and overseas banks for unsecured creditors who lost funds when the Bond Corporation subsidiary collapsed in 1991.

The liquidator said the banks knew Bell Group was insolvent, or nearly so, when they gained lucrative assets in 1990 as security for refinancing the troubled group's loans.

The banks later made a profit when they sold the assets for $280 million after Bell Group's collapse, leaving other creditors, owed more than $540 million, fighting over scraps.

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