MORGAN STANLEY (Reuters) - Amrik Sandhu, a senior executive in Morgan Stanley's (>> Morgan Stanley) commodities group in Europe, left the bank this week, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Sandhu, who had responsibility for a group which sells commodities products to retail and wholesale investors, left at a time that Morgan Stanley has been cutting 25 percent of its fixed income business.
Morgan Stanley reported a 42 percent decline in adjusted bond trading revenue in the third quarter, one of its worst since the financial crisis.
A spokesman for Morgan Stanley declined to comment on the departure. The people asked not to be named because they are not authorized to speak to the media.
Sandhu joined Morgan Stanley from Bank of America (>> Bank of America Corp) in 2011 where he served as global head of metals in London.
Morgan Stanley is also pulling out of most of its base metals trading business as part of the culling in fixed income, people familiar with the matter said this week.
Sharp falls in global commodity prices and greater regulatory scrutiny has prompted several banks to exit the space in recent years. Earlier this year Castleton Commodities International bought Morgan Stanley's physical oil business.
Morgan Stanley is also winding down its solar desk, a group within commodities that develops and structures renewable energy projects. Sandhu's departure was reported earlier by SparkSpread.
(Reporting by Olivia Oran in New York and Pratima Desai in London; Editing by David Gregorio)
By Olivia Oran and Pratima Desai
