Credit Agricole unit Calyon, Fortis and ABN Amro are among European banks that have been actively recruiting energy and commodity personnel.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, the investment banking division of Dresdner Bank, signalled its intent last year by hiring Martin Fraenkel, previously of Man Investments, as the global head of DrKW's commodities division.

"We see opportunities in energy," Fraenkel told Reuters.

"We see opportunities for our bank, in particular as a German bank as the European energy market continues to liberalise."

For Calyon, the corporate and investment banking arm of Credit Agricole, the opportunities are global.

"Calyon is expanding all over the globe; the commodities market is growing very quickly," Etienne Amic, Calyon's global head of commodities, said last week.

"There's a wall of money coming into the commodities market; everyone wants to do commodities, and these are real customers - companies, asset managers, hedge funds," Amic said.

While some banks seek rapid growth, others are now gearing up to challenge the two Wall Street banks that have dominated energy markets for decades, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

"I think some of the first tier banks will start feeling the pressure from second tier banks that have been expanding aggressively," said Wayne Harburn, head of commodity derivatives at ABN Amro.

Harburn cited Barclays Capital as a prime challenger to the Wall Street giants, while Boston Consulting Group (BCG) says UBS , Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse "have strengthened their positions through selected investments."

- Nampa-Reuters

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