Goldman Stays on Top for Commodities Amid Diminishing Revenues

(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. retained its crown as the bank with the largest commodities revenue in the first half, while lenders saw their worst income from natural resources in at least a decade.

The New York-based firm made the most money from raw materials among the top 12 investment banks after coming top in the past two years, according to Coalition Development Ltd., a London-based business analytics company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. came second and Citigroup Inc. dropped to third, Coalition said in a report Friday.

Revenue at the 12 banks fell by a quarter to $2.2 billion from a year earlier on weak performances in energy and industrial metals, it said earlier this month. That was the worst first half in at least a decade, Coalition estimated.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and BNP Paribas SA came next in the ranking, followed by UBS Group AG, HSBC Holdings Plc and Societe Generale SA, it said. Coalition tracks commodities activities including power and gas, oil, metals, coal and agriculture.

Several banks in the ranking have scaled back or abandoned commodities businesses amid increased regulatory scrutiny. The analysis doesn’t include Australian, Canadian or emerging-market banks that have a large presence in commodities.

It does include Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG, and Barclays Plc.

To contact the reporter on this story: Agnieszka de Sousa in London at atroszkiewic@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Nicholas Larkin, Tony Barrett