UBS Names Ed Carroll, Hector Freitas to Head Commodities

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG, Switzerland?€™s largest bank, said Ed Carroll and Hector Freitas will take over as co-heads of its commodities business, which will be moved into its Macro business which includes rates and foreign exchange.

Jean Bourlot will remain head of commodities until the end of December and will leave the bank next year, Zurich-based UBS said in an internal memorandum, distributed by a spokeswoman.

UBS, which lost $2.3 billion from unauthorized trading this year and employs about 65,000 people globally, plans to reduce staff at the investment bank unit by 2,000, or 11 percent, by the end of 2016, it said in a statement Nov. 17. It is scaling down fixed-income businesses as stricter capital requirements and the European sovereign debt crisis reduced profitability.

The commodities business will move into the Macro division in January, according to the statement received today. The unit, which is part of the Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities division, ?€œgoing forward?€ will be composed of three business lines including rates, foreign exchange and commodities, UBS said.

Carroll is currently co-head of commodity index trading, while Freitas has served as head of commodities corporate marketing. They are both based in London. In their new roles, they will report to George Athanasopoulos and Chris Vogelgesang, global co-heads of foreign exchange, and to Chris Murphy, the global head of rates, UBS spokeswoman Hana Dunn said by phone today.

Bourlot, the former head of agricultural trading at Morgan Stanley, started at UBS in August 2010. He is leaving ?€œto pursue other business interests,?€ UBS said.

?€˜Fully Committed?€™

UBS shut its climate-change advisory practice in September and fired the staff, Jon Anda, the group?€™s former chief who also left the bank, said in an interview Nov. 17.

The bank remains ?€œfully committed?€ to the commodities unit and does not anticipate any product changes, it said in the statement. Earlier this year it hired 15 people in commodities, Bourlot said in a June interview.

?€œThe unification of commodities with the other Macro businesses creates significant synergies, including allowing us to take full advantage of the close links between commodities and our highly successful precious metals business,?€ the bank said. The move will also simplify the FICC management structure, according to the statement.

The Standard & Poor?€™s GSCI index of 24 raw materials rose almost fourfold since the end of 2001 as farmers, miners and oil producers failed to keep up with demand. The index slid 12 percent in September, the most in almost three years, and about $5 trillion was wiped off the value of global stocks on speculation growth was slowing.

Investor Outflows

Commodity investor outflows of almost $10 billion in September were the most since at least the beginning of 2009 as prices slumped, Barclays Capital said Oct. 21. The outflow was double the amount for the third quarter of 2008, when the worst global recession since World War II cut raw materials demand.

UBS said in December it planned to double its commodities team, a year after selling most of its raw-material units to Barclays Plc. The bank announced plans to withdraw from most commodities businesses in October 2008 amid efforts to cut investment banking risk after $48.6 billion in writedowns and losses.

--With assistance from Maria Kolesnikova in London. Editors: Sharon Lindores, John Deane

To contact the reporter on this story: Agnieszka Troszkiewicz in London at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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