BEIJING, June 12 (Reuters) - Credit default swaps are “instruments of destruction” that should be outlawed, billionaire investor George Soros said on Friday.

Soros, speaking at a financial conference in Beijing, explained that such swaps grossly distort the balance between risk and reward, creating the potential to bring companies and financial institutions to their knees.

“CDS are instruments of destruction which ought to be outlawed,” he said. (Reporting by Alan Wheatley; Editing by Ken Wills)