The Agriculturals team will focus on the provision of risk management solutions in soft commodities, grains and fibres to institutional investors and corporate clients. The business, which will be operational in H2 2007, will be based in London and Singapore with additional sales coverage across all time zones through existing Commodities sales teams.

Simon Games-Thomas has joined UBS in Singapore as Managing Director and head of the team. In this role, Simon will be responsible for the construction of UBS's agricultural business including product suite, strategy and marketing. Simon brings with him more than 30 years experience in agricultural commodities in both Australia and the UK, most recently at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney where he worked as a consultant to the bank's agricultural derivatives business. Prior to joining Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Simon also worked at N.M.Rothschild & Sons, Tokyo-Mitsubishi International and Merrill Lynch.
Simon, who joined UBS on February 5th, reports to James Paget, head of Commodities Marketing for Europe and Asia.

John Watson has joined UBS in London as Executive Director. John previously worked at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney where he was a Senior Commodities Trader, Global Markets. At UBS, John will be responsible for establishing an Agricultural Derivatives Trading Desk, working closely with the existing Commodity Derivatives Trading teams. At UBS, he reports to Jeff Waldron, global head of Commodity Derivatives Trading.

Jonathan Deane and John Reeve have joined UBS as Associate Directors. Jonathan Deane, based in London, will work closely with John Watson on the Agricultural Derivatives Trading desk. John Reeve, based in Singapore, will work closely with Simon Games-Thomas to market agricultural products. Both join from Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

John Watson, Jonathan Deane and John Reeve all joined UBS on February 5th.

Peter Ghavami, global head of Commodities, said: "We have seen increasing demand from our clients for investing in and hedging exposure to commodities. During the course of the last 12 months, we have dedicated a significant amount of resources to the further build up of our commodities franchise and the creation of an Agricultural Derivatives business is a key part of our growth strategy."