About Us
Independent Authority
LBMA ensures the highest levels of leadership, integrity and transparency for the global precious metals industry by advancing standards and developing market solutions.
Advancing standards
Market solutions
We identify the needs of the market and find solutions to improve systems and processes.
Physical markets
To support trading and physical settlement we are exploring how technology can strengthen supply chain provenance.
Financial markets
We want to ensure that the trading business not only grows but that it is attractive to new and existing clients and participants. Until we launched our LBMA Trade Data reporting service, market liquidity had been hard to quantify. Now LBMA Trade Data is improving transparency and demonstrating liquidity in the Loco London Precious Metals Market.
Loco London Precious Metals Market
The Loco London Market is the largest and oldest financial market for precious metals in the world. Participants and clients around the world take part in tailored transactions through principal-to-principal trading. In this film, Paul Fisher (Chairman) and Ruth Crowell (Chief Executive) discuss the central role that LBMA plays from setting standards on the purity, form and provenance of the bars and how they are traded.
LBMA: Who we are
TranscriptRuth Crowell: The LBMA is the world’s authority for precious metals.
We’re the standard-setting organisation that defines how precious metals are refined, as well as traded around the world.
It’s our job to ensure the quality and the integrity of the metal itself, as well as the market participants.
Paul Fisher: Our members are leading firms involved in the full lifecycle of precious metals. From being mined from rock in the ground, being refined, being transported, being stored and then finally being sold, whether as a bar or as a piece of jewellery.
These miners, refiners, banks, trading houses, ETF providers, security companies, vaults, even central banks must follow LBMA standards for the benefit of customers around the world.
RC: Our Board has an independent Chairman, as well as Non-Executive Directors, which ensure the independence of the governance of the LBMA. But they’re also elected Market Directors who sit on the Board and ensure the market is steering the development of the Association. Beyond that we have many sub-committees and working groups, in which market participants can be engaged and steering everything that LBMA does.
PF: We provide quality control for the metal produced and we set high standards for business conduct. And we are also the voice of the market for governments, regulators and investors.
RC: We do that through the Good Delivery List and the Global Precious Metals Code.
The Good Delivery List defines what’s acceptable when it comes to the appearance and the shape of the bars themselves. It’s also considered the de facto international standard for gold and silver.
The Global Precious Metals Code is a code of conduct which promotes a fair, effective and transparent market. It provides market participants with principles and guidance, to uphold high standards of business conduct. All of this creates confidence in the market for all participants.
We work closely with the commercial vaults, as well as the Bank of England. And the vaults only accept bars which meet the Good Delivery Standards. They also physically inspect each bar as it comes through the door, to make sure that it’s up to standard. As such, they act as the gatekeepers of the Market.
PF: We’re also leading the world in Responsible Sourcing, thanks to the strength of our Responsible Sourcing Programme.
RC: Our aim is to maintain integrity, as well as proactively develop the Precious Metals Market.
That means we are always looking forward and anticipating any future needs and requirements.
The average daily volume for gold is US$60+ BN