Commods seen important to Lehman despite troubles

By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Commodities staff at Lehman Brothers may not see the heavy job losses coming to other units at the financially troubled No. 4 U.S. investment bank, industry sources said on Wednesday.

"We've been in touch with the people at Lehman over the last few months and what we find is that the commodities section remains important to the bank," said a headhunter in New York, speaking on conditions of anonymity.

"I think what we're seeing now are wider bank-related issues, which have little to do with the viability of Lehman's commodity operations. So, I'll be surprised if they slash-and-burn there," he said.

He added that as recently as September 1, Lehman had advertised online for a "Commodities Product Controller" for its oil trading desk, to be based in London.

A Lehman executive declined comment on the future of the bank's commodity operations after the company on Wednesday reported a record loss of about $4 billion in the third quarter. Its shares fell to a 52-week low.

Lehman said it planned to sell part of its asset management unit and divest its commercial real estate holdings.

Worried employees told Reuters they were looking for jobs. Lehman has slashed its head count by 1,500 since the end of May, ending August with 25,935 employees.

"I don't think anyone in Lehman is too confident about his job right now. But certainly no one on the commodities side there has been worried about a specific downsizing, other than probably the hold-on in hiring that may come," said one recruiter who has been in touch with the bank.