Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA has closed its team buying and selling commodities, a company official said.

The team consisted of 14 people, and seven of these employees will be transferred to other units at the Bilbao-based bank, said the official, who declined to be identified, citing company policy.

The bank is cutting 150 employees in its wholesale banking division as it trims staffing in line with reduced business levels, the company said on Dec. 8.

--Editors: Alessandro Vitelli, Rachel Graham.

Lars Paulsson in London at lpaulsson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net