“NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street commodity revenues crashed last year to their lowest on record, as tighter regulation and limited price swings squeezed the once dominant traders of Goldman SachsGroup Inc , JPMorgan Chase & Co and Morgan Stanley .
All three firms reported double-digit percentage declines in revenues for oil, grains and copper trading in 2012, illustrating how the one-time ‘Wall Street Refiners’ have withered in the face of subdued markets and restrictions on proprietary trading.
The decline is most stark at Goldman, where commodity revenues collapsed by more than 60 percent year-on-year in 2012 to just $575 million, according to the bank’s annual report.
Long considered the top commodity bank on Wall Street for its expertise in both physical and financial markets, Goldman’s revenues have now fallen by almost 90 percent since 2009 when they totaled more than $4.5 billion.
Morgan Stanley, Goldman’s fellow Wall Street pioneer in commodity markets three decades ago, reported a 20 percent decline in commodity revenues in 2012.
JPMorgan, which has grown its commodity business through a series of bold acquisitions since the 2008 financial crisis and now surpasses both Goldman and Morgan Stanley, saw revenues decline by 16 percent to $2.4 billion.
Spokespeople for the banks, who have regularly declined to discuss their commodity results since they began revealing them in filings in 2009, were not immediately available to comment.
TIGHTENING REGULATION…”
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