BoA adds commodities execs on power and gas

A Bank of America branch is pictured in New York May 7, 2009.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) has hired two senior commodity executives as directors to run parts of its power and natural gas group in Houston, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

The additions are the latest step by the largest U.S. bank, which acquired Merrill Lynch on January 1, to expand its commodities business globally.

Narsimha Misra will head west power trading, while Eric Race will head NYMEX gas option trading, according to the memo that a bank spokeswoman confirmed.

Misra, who has spent 17 years in the industry, was previously a director in the North American power group at RBS Sempra Energy Trading and before that at Credit Suisse. He will join Bank of America later this month, according to the memo.

Race, who started at Bank of America on Tuesday, was previously co-head of natural gas trading at Bunge Ltd, and before that he worked at Lehman Brothers, the memo said.

Many large commercial and investment banks are boosting their commodities staff to take advantage of the upswing in prices this year and greater investor risk appetite.

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America has said it may increase its metals and energy business 25 percent over the next two to three years.

The bank is focusing a large part of its commodities expansion in Asia, where earlier this month it hired five senior executives.

(Reporting by Elinor Comlay; Editing by Richard Chang)