The emotionally fraught case...is viewed by many as preparing the way for big claims against multinationals for past dealings with discredited regimes...The suits [brought in U.S. courts] allege that banks including UBS, Credit Suisse and Citigroup, extended high interest loans to the apartheid regime, in contravention of international sanctions; that carmakers including DaimlerChrysler built armoured vehicles for the security forces that terrorised the black majority; and mining companies such as Anglo American and De Beers profited from apartheid by exploiting the low-paid workforce the system guaranteed.