ôWe have seen increasing demand from our clients for investing in and hedging exposure to commodities. During the course of the last 12 months, we have dedicated a significant amount of resources to the further build up of our commodities franchise and the creation of an agricultural derivatives business is a key part of our growth strategy,ö explains Peter Ghavami, global head of commodities.
The business, which will be operational in the second half of 2007, will be based in London and Singapore with additional sales coverage across all time zones through existing commodities sales teams.
The formation of the team means several new hires.
Simon Games-Thomas has joined UBS in Singapore as managing director and head of the team. In this role, he will be responsible for the construction of UBSÆ agricultural business including product suite, strategy and marketing.
He brings with him more than 30 years experience in agricultural commodities in both Australia and Britain, most recently at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney where he worked as a consultant to the bankÆs agricultural derivatives business. Prior to joining Commonwealth Bank of Australia, he also worked at NM Rothschild & Sons, Tokyo-Mitsubishi International and Merrill Lynch.
John Watson has joined UBS in London as executive director. Watson previously worked at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney where he was a senior commodities trader, global markets. At UBS, Watson will be responsible for establishing an agricultural derivatives trading desk, working closely with the existing commodity derivatives trading teams.
Jonathan Deane and John Reeve have joined UBS as associate directors. Jonathan
Deane, based in London, will work closely with John Watson on the agricultural
derivatives Trading desk. John Reeve, based in Singapore, will work closely with Simon Games-Thomas to market agricultural products. Both join from Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.
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