Is a change coming on the gold market in London ?
This week in Vienna, a meeting was held between different actors in order to discuss possible changes of the spot gold market in London.
The London Bullion Market Association, which oversees trade and holds its annual conference starting Monday, called for proposals on how to improve the over-the-counter market for gold in London, suggesting more detailed reports transactions. At the same time, members of the World Gold Council agreed had discussed the issue and had reached agreement with five banks.
Read also : LBMA seeks to boost confidence and transparency.
The London market has become central to regulators around the world who watch the commodity trading and lawmakers have pressed for tighter controls on banks. The city of London has relied for centuries on trade to manage the risk of default or non-payment.
Which changes are coming on the gold market ?
The LBMA said Oct. 9 that she wanted to explore ways to enhance transparency and invited the actors of the gold market to suggest improvements. This will happen particularly through the examination of a new electronic platform that would reduce transaction costs and improve efficiency. On the occasion of a future meeting, over 600 stakeholders such as banks, mining companies, retailers and dealers will meet to discuss these developments together.
The World Gold Council said in a letter last month to the LBMA she and a group of five banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are discussing making changes.
Read also : the certification LBMA.
The group called last week on the London Metal Exchange and the London Stock Exchange, the exchange of proposals on how to begin to standardize centralized compensation and listed derivatives.
The Board continues to talk with banks and industry on ways to modernize broader market.
The LME, the largest industrial metals trading said in September it was ready to work with the industry on an information center for bullion.
The platinum price and the palladium price gather with the gold price and the silver price ?
The association plans to extend its supervision to include platinum and palladium, rather than simply monitor the gold and silver prices. Having monitoring four precious metals in the same group would make sense from a bank point of view. LBMA members are asked to vote on the change at the annual general meeting in June.
Read also : understand how the gold price works.
City of London has already taken steps to modernize the market. In March, a IntercontinentalExchange Inc. unit began to launch an electronic auction for the daily gold price, replacing a system based on a telephone from a few banks that had changed little since the beginning of last century. Similar revisions fasteners prices silver, platinum and palladium were made last year. The LBMA helped oversee these changes.
Bernard Sin, head of currency exchange and precious metals at MKS SA (Switzerland refiner based in Geneva) said :
« From the perspective of a user in the market, this is going in a good direction. I think it would benefit everyone if we could see the powers of the LBMA and WGC combine. »
