UPDATE 1-CME Group metals director Harriet Hunnable to leave company

* Hunnable to leave CME Group on Dec 11

* Joined company in 2011 from Macquarie (Adds background, detail)

LONDON Dec 2 CME Group Inc's executive director for metals products, Harriet Hunnable, will leave the company later this month, a CME spokesman said on Wednesday.

Hunnable, who has been with futures market operator CME Group since early 2011, was responsible for developing the company's precious metals portfolio. The group's U.S. gold futures contracts are the most liquid in the world.

"She resigned, and she leaves on 11 December," the spokesman said, declining to give further details. Hunnable was not immediately available to comment.

Hunnable joined the CME from Macquarie Bank, having previously worked at UBS, Merrill Lynch and NM Rothschild.

She was tipped in 2013 as a potential candidate for the role of head of the London Metal Exchange (LME), the world's biggest marketplace for aluminium, copper, lead, zinc, tin and nickel.

At the time she downplayed her interest in the post, saying she was "enjoying role at CME group".

Hunnable's time at CME has coincided with a period of flux for the London precious metals market.

CME, in association with Thomson Reuters, took over last year as operator of the London benchmark silver price after a regulatory drive for transparency brought the 117-year-old silver 'fix', which it replaced, to an end.

The precious metals markets are likely to see further changes next year.

The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) said last month that a number of exchanges, brokers and data vendors had expressed an interest in providing clearing or reporting services to make the gold market more liquid and transparent. (Reporting by Jan Harvey; Editing by David Goodman and Louise Heavens)