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Corporate Score 52 Bearish

Citigroup Scales Back Physical Industrial Metals Trading Operations

Apr 30, 2026 17:00 UTC
C
Medium term

Citigroup is reducing its footprint in the physical industrial metals market, resulting in staff redundancies within its commodities division. The move marks a strategic retreat from a sector where the bank had recently sought to challenge dominant market leaders.

  • Citi is reducing physical industrial metals trading
  • Commodities team facing staff redundancies
  • Strategic retreat from competition with Goldman Sachs and Macquarie
  • Reduction in physical delivery activity on the LME
  • Shift away from bold financing trades in physical assets

Citigroup Inc. is retreating from the physical trading of industrial metals, according to testimony provided at a London employment tribunal. As part of this strategic pivot, the bank has implemented a series of redundancies within its commodities team. In recent years, Citi had aggressively expanded its commodities business to compete with established industry leaders such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, and Macquarie Group Ltd. The bank had specifically targeted the London Metal Exchange (LME), where it became a significant player by taking delivery of physical metals. Citi's strategy involved executing bold financing trades that allowed it to compete directly with large global trading houses. By integrating physical delivery into its financing structures, the bank had carved out a substantial role in the industrial metals ecosystem. This retreat suggests a shift in risk appetite or a reallocation of capital away from the capital-intensive physical metals business. While Citigroup remains a major financial institution, its reduced presence in physical delivery may alter liquidity dynamics for certain industrial metals on the LME.

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