Goldman moves FX trading chief to commodities role

LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) has moved its head of global foreign exchange trading Guy Saidanberg to the role of co-head of commodities trading, making way for the appointment of former JP Morgan (Other OTC: JPYYL - news) banker Kayhan Mirza to the FX role.

Internal memos seen by Reuters confirmed Mirza's move to Goldman as a partner, reported in some media at the start of this month, and that Saidanberg was moving to the new post after a year in charge of the currency area.

A Goldman Sachs spokeswoman in London confirmed the contents of the memos were accurate and declined to comment further.

Banks have been struggling to fill gaps at the top of their currency trading operations left by a spat of resignations, suspensions and dismissals since allegations of manipulation of market benchmarks emerged last year.

More than 30 traders from some of the world's biggest banks have now been suspended or laid off, although the reasons for each case remain unclear.

Recruitment firms and sources at some of the banks at the centre of the probe have said there is huge reluctance to hire experienced spot traders externally because replacements could be tainted by the allegations of rate-rigging.

The memo said Mirza was previously the global head of FX options trading and head of EMEA FX trading at JP Morgan. (Reporting by Patrick Graham; Editing by Catherine Evans)