Where do the biggest counterparty risks currently lie in the financial system? If you were to ask a clutch of Wall Street bankers that question right now, many might point to the credit derivatives world – or perhaps the leverage finance sphere.

However, I recently chatted with one of the more canny operators in Europe’s investment banking scene – and he confessed that what gave him headaches right now, in counterparty terms, was not the credit sphere; instead his counterparty jitters revolved around the commodities trading sector, and issues such as rice, copper and oil. “It’s a big worry,” he confessed. “When you look at what is happening with commodities right now, there are just so many parallels with the credit bubble.”