BNP Paribas sets up soft commodites team

BNP Paribas has hired seven ex-Refco employees to build its worldwide presence in the soft futures market, and the Paris-based bank has also become a member of the New York Board of Trade (Nybot).

Jeff Bauml will lead the team as a New York-based managing director. Bauml previously worked for 15 years at Refco, and prior to that he was president of Phibro Latin America.

Other hires include London-based Jeremy Caldwell and Paul Bannister; New York-based Diana Brin, Chris Cody and Jason Spaziante; and Sao Paulo-based Augusto Duva. All six will join as traders and report to Bauml.

"This new initiative will allow us to continue to expand our range of risk management and investment products from energy and metals to the agriculturals market,” said Jean-Marc Bonnefous, London-based global head of commodity derivatives, adding that the firm will focus on structured commodity basket and index products.