Louis Dreyfus Group plans to launch a weather derivatives trading desk in London before year-end. Kevin Green, director of weather risk in Wilton, Conn., said the desk will operate within the firm's agricultural derivatives division. Green said the firm is still assessing if it will need to make additional hires to man the desk. "Right now we're formulating our European strategy. It shouldn't be that long before we begin trading," he said. The London desk is likely to mirror the U.S. operation, primarily focusing on customer business with a limited role as a market maker. Dreyfus has an extensive energy and agricultural client base from which to draw for weather trades, Green said. Robert Schut, who works in Dreyfus' London agricultural derivatives group, has been working closely with Green to research setting up the weather desk and is likely to take on a managerial position on the new desk, Green said. Schut declined comment.
Since entering its first weather derivative trades in the U.S. last September, when Green was the lone trader on the desk, Dreyfus has expanded its trading team to four (DW, 9/4). About a month ago it hired Matt Carter, formerly a meteorologist at the now defunctWorldwide Weather Trading. Carter was hired as the director of weather risk management at Dreyfus. He reports to Green.
