Top banks' 2020 commodities revenue soars 85% - consultancy Coalition

LONDON (Reuters) - Commodities-related revenue at the world's 12 biggest investment banks surged by 85% last year compared to 2019 as oil and metals trading made further strong gains, consultancy Coalition said on Friday.

Commodities revenue at the 12 banks climbed for a third successive year after several years of declines, hitting its lowest for more than a decade in 2017.

During 2020, revenue from commodity trading, selling derivatives to investors and other activities in the sector rose to $7.5 billion, the financial industry analytics firm said.

"In metals, revenues from precious metals multiplied as investors sought safe havens from the volatile markets and uncertainty caused by the pandemic," Coalition said in a statement.

"In energy, oil was the key performer with continued growth throughout the year driven by large one-off gains and increased corporate hedging activity," the consultancy said.

One of the banks that Coalition tracks, JPMorgan, alone had earned record revenue of around $1 billion from trading, storing and financing precious metals to date in 2020, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters in November.

The other 11 banks Coalition tracks for its quarterly reports are Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, Societe Generale and UBS.

(Reporting by Eric Onstad; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)