Commodities seem important to Lehman

By Barani Krishnan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lehman's latest troubles may cost more jobs at the No. 4 U.S. investment bank but its commodities business, which it seems to find more promising than some units, could be largely spared, 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 through an online jobs portal for a "Commodities Product Controller" for its oil trading desk, to be based in London.

Lehman on Wednesday reported a record loss of about $4 billion (2.3 billion pounds) in the third quarter and said it planned to sell part of its asset management unit and divest its commercial real estate holdings amid a 45 percent loss in share value.

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

An executive with Lehman declined comment on the future of the bank's commodity operations.

"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 another recruiter in New York, who has been in touch with the bank.