FACTBOX-Banks expand commodities trading desks

(Updates lead, RBS Sempra)

LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Banks are boosting their
commodities staff to take advantage of the upswing in prices
this year and greater investor risk appetite.

Bank of America (BAC.N), which last autumn acquired Merrill
Lynch and its businesses, including commodities, plans to expand
its new commodities team by 25 percent over the next two to
three years.

Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) plans to add 100 staff on
commodities in the next 18 months. [ID:nL3492156]

The main exception is the Royal Bank of Scotland which is
being forced to divest its stake in its commodities joint
venture with utility Sempra (SRE.N) within the next four years
to comply with the European Commission's requirements on state
aid. [ID:nBNG474338]

The shake out of the banking industry has created new
opportunities for the remaining players, both in terms of
recruitment and market share.

Aside from Merrill Lynch, other banks that used to play a
significant role in commodities include the now bankrupt Lehman
Brothers, which has been acquired by Barclays, and UBS (UBS.N)
-- which axed most of its commodities businesses in the
aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Banks not already active in spot markets are now trying to
establish a foothold there, partly because of concerns about
regulatory changes in the derivatives realm. [ID:nCFTCREG]

Standard Chartered (STAN.L) expects to start trading
commodities on a spot basis next year. Those already with a
strong presence in spot markets such as Barclays Capital
(BARC.L) and Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) are expanding.

MITSUBISHI UFJ (8306.T)

Global head - Tetsuro Kono

History - The bank has been in the market 20 years and it is
active in oil, freight, coal and emissions.

Growth plan - The bank will focus on commodities and energy
derivatives and expects this to account for 20 percent of its
revenue in two years, from 5-10 percent now. [ID:nL751676]

BANK OF AMERICA (BAC.N)

Global co-heads -- David Goodman and Rob Jones, based in
London and Houston respectively.

History -- Merrill Lynch acquired the energy trading
businesses of Entergy-Koch, LP.

Focus -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch's commodities
business includes structuring, trading and marketing natural
gas, power, crude oil, refined products, coal, emissions,
metals, commodity indices, and structured notes. The company is
involved in both financial and physical markets.

Growth plan -- In August 2009, the company announced that it
intends to expand its commodities team by 25 percent over the
next two to three years in anticipation of a strong demand for
commodities. In Q3, it made a number of key hires in Asia and
the US, including a new head of west power trading, and a head
of NYMEX gas option trading.

DEUTSCHE BANK (DBKGn.DE)

Global head -- David Silbert

History -- Launched a five-year expansion plan in
commodities and energy in 2007.

Focus -- Deutsche is active in oil, refined products,
metals, gas, power, agriculture and carbon markets as well as
financial investor products.

It has a spot presence in metals and uranium but is not
active in the physical oil business.

Growth plan -- It has increased its headcount by 15 percent
so far this year and plans to continue hiring in 2010.

It recently opened a new office in Houston, Texas and
started trading U.S. power and gas. A bank spokesman said it had
experienced "spectacular" growth in Asia this year.

The bank said it has launched 11 new commodity indices,
three new commodity systematic mutual funds and one new
commodity exchange traded fund this fiscal year.

BNP PARIBAS (BNPP.PA)

Global head -- Lincoln Payton

Staff -- Over 1,000

History -- Started in commodity derivatives more than 20
years ago and in commodity financing 50 years ago.

Focus -- Active in trading crude, oil products, natural gas,
European power as well as base metals and soft commodities.

The bank is traditionally strong in structured financing and
helped finance oil major Total's (TOTF.PA) Yemen LNG project due
to come on stream in the next few weeks. [ID:nL6362838]

Growth plan -- The bank said in an e-mailed statement it is
expanding its derivatives business to cater to hedge funds.

It is expected to double revenues in commodity derivatives
by 2012, supported by the acquisition of activities from Fortis,
a bank executive told the Financial Times. [ID:nL6228628]

GOLDMAN SACHS (GS.N)

Global head -- Isabelle Ealet

Staff -- Has more than 200 commodity professionals in
locations throughout the world, such as New York, Calgary,
Houston, London, Sydney, Singapore and Tokyo

History -- Entered the commodities business in 1981 with the
purchase of a firm called J. Aron.

Focus -- Serving corporate clients and financial investors
ranging from hedge funds to institutional investors and private
equity firms. It is one of the few investment banks in the world
that physically trades and ships crude oil.

Growth plan -- Delivering customized risk management
solutions for commodities by combining client objectives with
its expertise in physical markets and edge in commodities
research.

BARCLAYS CAPITAL (BARC.L)

Global head -- Benoit de Vitry

Staff -- The bank had 240 people in commodities at the end
of the last fiscal year.

History -- Started trading commodities in 2000.

Focus -- It is active in oil, refined products, metals,
power and gas, coal, agriculturals, emissions and investment
products.

Growth plan -- Barclays plans to increase the number of
staff in commodities by over 30 percent to 320 by the end of the
fiscal year.

The main area of growth is the physical markets and Barclays
created a shipping division called Pendle in March to support
its physical oil trading operations. [ID:nLR198602]

CREDIT SUISSE (CSGN.VX)

Global head -- Adam Knight, who joined in 2007 from Goldman
Sachs where he was head of global metals trading.

Staff -- At the end of 2008 it had more than 130 staff
globally.

History -- Entered the business in 2005 and has accelerated
its expansion since 2007.

Focus -- The bank is active in oil and refined products,
coal, metals and agricultural commodities such as wheat,
soybeans, milk and sugar.

It has a large presence in the physical market through its
alliance with Swiss commodities trading house Glencore.

Growth plan -- The bank has hired 100 people since 2007 and
plans to add another 100 in the next 18 months, Knight told
Reuters in an interview last week.

It brought on two new directors in New York and a head of
Vanilla Index Trading in July.

It is in the process of closing its U.S. power business but
has now started trading European gas and power in-house.

STANDARD CHARTERED (STAN.L)

Global head -- Vincent Van Pelt. He joined last year from
Bear Stearns where he spent 14 years, mostly as co-head of
European equities.

History -- The bank started its commodities business three
years ago. It tripled its customer base in 2008 from the
previous year and is hoping to double it again this year.

Focus -- It offers commodity-linked financing and structured
products in precious metals, base metals, energy and farm
products.

Growth plan -- The bank plans to expand its coal trading
operations by hiring more people this year and will aim to start
trading physical commodities trading by next year. It is keen to
expand its presence in sugar and palm oil.

RBS SEMPRA (RBS.L)

Global head -- Kaushik Amin. He joined in May and formerly
worked for Lehman Brothers where he was global head of liquid
markets.

History -- The commodities joint venture between the Royal
Bank of Scotland and Sempra Energy (SRE.N) was created in April
2008. The European Commission's state aid requirements will
force RBS to divest its share of this venture over the next four
years. Sempra said in a statement that RBS is required to
maintain its stake until April 2012.

Focus -- RBS Sempra Commodities is mainly active in physical
markets and its main markets are crude oil, base metals,
European power gas and coal and North American gas and power. It
also trades U.S. agricultural products and emissions.

Growth plan -- The bank said in September that it was hiring
in this realm but had no comment on Wednesday about how the
divestment plans would impact its business.

MACQUARIE (MQG.AX)

Global head -- Andrew Downe

Staff -- 680 in commodities and treasury combined.

History -- Macquarie has provided trade financing and risk
management services across the commodities complex since the
early 1980s.

It is one of the longest standing providers of agricultural
over-the-counter derivatives and tailored risk management
services in the financial sector.

Focus -- Macquarie is active in metals, agricultural
commodities, oil, products and natural gas.

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND BANKING GROUP (ANZ.AX)

Global head -- Christophe Renaud. He joined in 2006 from
Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) where he was a commodity derivatives
trader.

History -- Started in gold in 1996 and expanded into base
metals and agricultural commodities in late 2000. Since 2000, it
has entered the oil, thermal coal, electricity and emissions
markets.

Growth plan -- It has hired 12 people in Asia since the
start of 2008.

(Reporting by Emma Farge, Sambit Mohanty, Jackie Cowhig and
Barani Krishnan, Editing by Toby Chopra)