ETCs, which track commodity indices and are listed and traded like stocks, have boomed on the back of the surging commodity market. Similar to listed exchange-traded funds, they are increasingly used by private as well as professional investors to get exposure to the market.

The firm has hired Nigel Longley, who takes the role of sales director responsible for the German and Austrian markets.

At Commerzbank, Mr Longley was based in Frankfurt with responsibility for a team of five professionals covering German "Mittelstand" (small-/medium-sized) companies. Previous to that he spent 20 years advising international institutional investors on the German equity market for Deutsche Bank & Credit Agricole Cheuvreux, among others.

He joins Tim Harvey and Michael Geister as representatives covering the German and Austrian markets. This is a timely recruitment due to the recent listing of the 66 short and leveraged ETCs, which are now available on the Deutsche Börse's XTF segment.

Meanwhile, ETF Securities has also recruited Rachel Kersey-Brown to the UK and Ireland sales team as a sales associate. She previously worked in private and structured finance.