UPDATE 1-Prudential opens commods index, hires ex-UBS staff

(Rewrites headline, lead to incorporate hiring of new executives, adds details in paras 2-4)

NEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) - Prudential Financial Inc (PRU.N) said on Wednesday it has hired three former UBS executives and launched a "green" index to ramp up its commodities business.

Robert Ascher, Charles Prindiville and Judson Schumacher, all former executive directors for commodities sales at UBS (UBSN.VX), joined New York-based Prudential Bache Commodities on June 2, Prudential spokesman Simon Locke said.

"They'll essentially be positioning us in the foreign exchange, precious metals and base metals (markets) ... and execution and clearing of global futures," Locke told Reuters.

Before coming to UBS, the three were with Merrill Lynch, where they built up relationships with a broad spectrum of clients that included institutional and hedge funds, commodity trading advisors, high net worth investors and family offices, a Prudential statement said.

The company also said its U.K.-based unit, Bache Commodities Group, has launched the Bache Commodity Green Index for tap the growing market for environmentally-focused investments.

Prudential said the green index which will be 60 percent weighted on biofuels crops like sugar, soybeans, palm oil and corn, and 40 percent on carbon credits and metals such as platinum and palladium used for purifying automotive emissions.

"In light of the significant investments being made in green technology and a stronger regulatory environment that will require companies to participate in cap-and-trade schemes around the world, we expect this market will grow rapidly," Stephen Ilnitzki, senior vice president of Bache Commodities, was quoted as saying in a news release. (Reporting by Barani Krishnan; Editing by Marguerita Choy)