Bank exits from commodity trading hurt US power firms

Generators face worse liquidity, fewer hedging choices after bank exodus

Many banks have scaled back their commodity market trading activities

The pullback of banks from commodity trading has left their former counterparties in the US power industry reminiscing about the good old days.

Not long ago, more than a dozen investment banks were active players in US electricity. But over the past two years, many have either exited or scaled back their commodity market trading activities. The retreat has been particularly pronounced in US power, where once-prominent dealers such as Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan have gott