Empresas y finanzas

Citigroup launches commodity trade finance business

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. bank Citigroup has launched a commodity trade finance unit, expanding into a sector once dominated by European lenders who have been shrinking their activities to cope with the euro zone debt crisis.

CITIGROUP (C.NY)has hired Kris Van Broekhoven from Deutsche Bank to lead the new unit, which will be part of its transaction services business, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Previously, the bank had only financed commodity trades occasionally, the spokesman said.

U.S. banks have been expanding fast in commodities trade finance, as former dominant players, such as French banks BNP Paribas and Societe Generale , retreat.

The likes of Citi, JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch have been expanding their commodities trade finance portfolio for oil, coal, steel and iron ore.

Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit singled out trade finance as one of the brighter spots for the bank, saying earlier this year Citi was increasing revenue for transaction services for corporations to record levels.

Trade loans were up 53 percent at the end of June from a year earlier, according to the company.

(Reporting by Douwe Miedema in London, and Bill Berkrot and David Henry in New York; Editing by Dan Lalor)

WhatsAppFacebookTwitterLinkedinBeloudBluesky