With its recent announcement that it is to quit almost all commodities trading, Deutsche Bank became just the latest bank to exit the sector. Both Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan are divesting assets, Deutsche has gone, and it remains to be seen who will remain.

The primary driving force of this rush for the exit is regulation. The days of banks being able to over-leverage their capital across numerous geographies and businesses are over. They might have ended naturally anyway - the strategy of maximising your leverage ratio did not work out too well - but regulators are pushing the pace.