The News: Citi to Add 100 Commodities Slots

Commodities hiring is getting a boost from Citigroup's forced sale of its Phibro oil trading business.

Citi is planning to expand its front-office contingent of commodities traders and bankers by 100 people or 40 percent over three years, the Financial Times reports. The hiring spree aims to rebuild the bank's presence in commodities after regulators effectively forced Citi to divest the highly profitable Phibro unit last year.

"The sale of Phibro has freed up considerable capacity for us to expand ... (and) invest in building out a client-facing oil business," Stuart Staley, Citi's new global head of commodities, told the FT. Staley will relocate from Houston to London in April.

Meanwhile, rivals such as JPMorgan are growing in commodities through both acquisition and organic growth.

Citi Beefs Up Commodities Business [FT]

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