Commodities revenue at the world's 10 largest investment banks fell by more than half in the first quarter of this year versus the same period of 2012 due to lower market and client activity, analytics firm Coalition said on Wednesday.
_0">Combined commodities revenue at the banks fell 54 percent to $1.2 billion for the first three months of 2013 from $2.6 billion in the first quarter of last year, the London-based firm said in its report.
"Low volatility, reduced client activity, and a shift of institutional investment out of the asset class meant Index revenues halved in 1Q13 compared to 1Q12," Coalition said.
It said capital constraints and regulatory challenges also caused some banks to re-evaluate the scope and scale of their commitment to parts of the commodities business. (Reporting by Barani Krishnan; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)