DE Shaw, the $25bn (€19bn) New York based asset manager, has become the first hedge fund to join the New York Mercantile Exchange, in a further example of hedge funds reducing their dependence on investment banks.

D. E. Shaw Plasma Portfolios, which is an affiliate of the hedge fund, has bought two seats on the commodities exchange, which is world's largest energy market. In the exchange's 135-year history it has never admitted a hedge fund as a member until now, according to Bloomberg.