Commerzbank to build in commodities

Commerzbank's London commodities team is looking to expand in size, despite the Luxembourg branch of the German bank losing a group of commodities traders to rival Standard Chartered.

David Burns, head of global commodity markets at Commerzbank, told Bloomberg that the bank had hired another trader "recently" and that another addition is "imminent".

There are currently seven staff on the London commodities desk, which trades energy metals and agricultural products out of London and Frankfurt under the bank's corporates and markets division. It was set up in November.

Earlier this week, Standard Chartered poached five traders from Commerzbank Luxembourg's precious metals team to boost its Asian commodities business. The five included Jeremy East, global head of precious metals at Commerzbank in Luxembourg.

Separately, Commerzbank has revealed plans to cull 900 jobs in its commercial arm, as it seeks to remain competitive.

In an internal memo seen by Financial News, the bank said it would cut 450 jobs, or a fifth of personnel, in IT and transaction banking over the next two years. The streamlining of credit administration would also require it to cut a further 450 jobs, the bank said.