Blythe Masters - 2010 Market Watch Article

Blythe Masters was quoted in this 2010 MarketWatch article, "Commodities Business Done, JPMorgan Will Expand Elsewhere":

"For J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., buying the global component of RBS Sempra Commodities amounts to taking one task off its to-do list.   

The bank's historic strength in investment banking had long been the fixed-income business--but several years ago, its managers started to beef up equities and commodities products and trading world wide to improve the standing of J.P. Morgan with large business clients. 

With capital at hand, J.P. Morgan will continue to expand, particularly in the cash equities business along the lines of Tuesday's deal." 

"This is the last piece of the commodities business that was missing" in a three-year process that basically started from scratch, said Blythe Masters, J.P. Morgan's head of Global Commodities, in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires en route to Connecticut, where the operations J.P. Morgan is acquiring are based." 

"What we now have is a business that is complete globally, complete around asset classes" like power, gas, oil, and metals, "and complete in terms of both financial and physical services and products," Masters said.

Read the entire article here.

Commodity Derivatives May Need More Regulation, IOSCO Says

Blythe Masters was quoted in this Bloomberg article, "Commodity Derivatives May Need More Regulation, IOSCO Says'.  

The Group of 20 Nations commissioned IOSCO to produce guidelines for commodity supervision last year. The use of derivatives to manipulate the price of foodstuffs and other raw materials is of “notable concern,” according to a European Union impact study on possible rules, as it can lead to “distorted” prices that harm the real economy.

Strict position limits would be overkill, Blythe Masters, head of global commodities at JPMorgan Chase & Co., wrote in an article distributed at the Eurofi financial forum in Wroclaw, Poland, today. She called instead for position “management” as a more effective solution.

Limits “would be a move in the wrong direction,” Masters said. “Position limits fundamentally undermine the flexibility needed to ensure that commodity markets function effectively.”


In addition to her role at JP Morgan Chase as Head of Global Commodities, Blythe Masters is Chair Emeritus of SIFMA, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.  SIFMA's mission is to bring together the shared interests of hundreds of securities firms, banks and asset managers in order to develop policies and practices which strengthen financial markets and encourage capital availability, job creation and economic growth while building trust and confidence in the financial industry.  The IOSCO (International Organization of Securities Commissions) is an association of organizations that regulate the world's securities and futures markets.  


Read the entire article here.