Futures broker RJ O’Brien has moved aggressively into the soft commodities market by hiring three brokers including the former heads of softs at BGC Partners.

The softs team, Gary Papier, James Hunt and David Cutler, will provide global coverage, supporting RJO’s plans to grow in softs to complement its agricultural business and diversify its brokerage products and services.

“RJO has strength and depth of coverage in grains, oilseeds and livestock, but we had a gap in soft commodities expertise,” Renée Laird, RJO’s senior managing director and global head of commercial agriculture and over-the-counter markets told Global Investor on Monday.

“Clients and prospective clients asked us to fill that gap, and we listened carefully to their needs.”

RJO has also taken on soft commodities delivery specialists to provide seamless operational support of the new business.

“Though the softs team is based in London, its soft commodities coverage is global and includes exchanges in London and New York,” Laird said. 

According to Laird, the appointments are part of a wider strategy to grow RJO’s commodities business. “We absolutely intend to build on our talent in commodities globally,” she said. “We will always have room for those brokers who have something strong to bring to the table.

“This holds true for the commodities space, as well as other product areas.”

Reporting to Laird, Papier and Hunt both join RJO as senior vice president and soft commodities co-heads, while Cutler is vice president, soft commodities.  

Papier, who has more than 25 years of trading, brokerage and technical analysis experience in softs was most recently co-head of the softs and agricultural commodities desk at BGC Partners.

Hunt, who was the other co-head of the softs and agriculturals desk at BGC, specialises in coffee, cocoa, sugar, cotton, orange juice, wheat, corn and soybeans commodities.

Cutler has a strong interest in macro-economics, and most recently served as a softs and agricultural derivatives broker at Sucden Financial, where he focused on cocoa.

Laird joined RJO in October last year as part of a reshuffle of the global sales division. She was previously founder and president of consulting firm Tallgrass International.

RJO last year added Ion’s Global Trading Platform to its global institutional brokerage vendor offering.