Two more directors leave Goldman after trading slump

NEW YORK, Feb 8 (Reuters) – Two more managing directors left Goldman Sachs Group Inc last week, a company spokeswoman said, adding to a string of departures by key commodities traders after the Wall Street firm reported a sharp drop in 2017 trading revenue.

Reuters reported last month that several traders, including Don Casturo, operating chief of global commodities, left Goldman Sachs as the firm tries to turn around its struggling commodities unit.

Daniel Cepeda, who traded base metals, and Steve Griffin, who was on the sales team, also left last week, company spokeswoman Tiffany Galvin said on Thursday.

That brings the total number of departures to eight in one week, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Since the beginning of the year, the company has also hired three managing directors – Kevin O’Reilly, Jon Yarrow and David Costa – Galvin said.

O’Reilly joined the global commodities sales team in New York, Yarrow rejoined Goldman in London as head of European gas and power trading and Costa joined as head of EMEA energy sales, she added.

Meanwhile, Nitin Jindal became partner and head of North American natural gas and power trading early this year.

Cepeda and Griffin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The source requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; Editing by Andrew Hay)