Goldman Sachs no longer one of top three commodities banks

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LONDON, March 22 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) lost its place among the top three earners of commodities-related revenue in 2017, falling below rivals JPMorgan (LSE: JPIU.L - news) , Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) and Citibank for the first time, data from analytics firm Coalition showed.

U.S.-based investment bank Goldman has been among the top three since Coalition started compiling the figures in 2010, having a longstanding reputation for generating revenue from commodities trading, derivatives and other activities.

However, last year Goldman's commodities business posted one of its worst results on record and it is now trying to boost performance, creating a new commodities finance team to drum up business from corporate clients.

Coalition said JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley had the largest revenue in the commodities sector last year, followed by Citi. Coalition ranks the twelve largest investment banks. It did not provide revenue figures.

Last year Goldman led the rankings, followed by JPMorgan and Citi in third place. Morgan Stanley was last placed in the top three in 2014, when it ranked third.

Banks' commodity revenues have been on a steady downward path in recent years as they exited or shrank their commodity businesses due to more stringent regulation and poor performance from the sector.

Revenue in the commodities sector at the 50 biggest investment banks was $4.3 billion last year, the lowest in more than a decade and down from $15.9 billion in 2008 at the peak of the commodities cycle, according to Coalition.

The twelve banks included in Coalition's ranking are Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) , BNP Paribas (LSE: 0HB5.L - news) , Citi, Credit Suisse (IOB: 0QP5.IL - news) , Deutsche Bank (IOB: 0H7D.IL - news) , Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley (Shenzhen: 002588.SZ - news) , Societe Generale (Swiss: 519928.SW - news) and UBS (LSE: 0QNR.L - news) . (Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)