ABN Amro Futures hires head of soft commodities in US

ABN Amro Futures Group, part of ABN Amro Clearing and Execution Services (AACES) division, has appointed John Koehne as head of soft commodities in the US.

Koehne will lead the expansion of ABN Amro’s soft commodities trading activities, which includes all agricultural products, in North, Central and South America.Koehne joins the bank from Prudential Financial, the US financial services company, where he was responsible for the firm’s coffee futures business. ABN Amro has also hired Jack Purr, who worked at Prudential with Koehne, as senior trader in the soft commodities business.

Both Koehne and Purr will be based in New York and will report to Robert Gaffney, head of North America futures in New York, and Brian Harmon de Clare, head of commodities in London.

ABN Amro said it plans to build its commodities business on the New York Board of Trade (Nybot), a major commodities futures exchange in the US.