LONDON--Six banks will participate in the auction to set the new
electronic gold price that will launch on Friday, according to
Intercontinental Exchange Inc., which manages the new platform.
Four of the banks--Barclays PLC (BCS), HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBC),
Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) and Societe Generale S.A.
(GLE.FR)--participate in the existing conference call that is used
to determine the daily fixes. The newcomer unveiled by ICE on
Thursday is Swiss bank UBS AG (UBSN.EG); the sixth name wasn't
disclosed.
ICE will manage the gold price on behalf of the London Bullion
Market Association, which will hold the intellectual property
rights to the fixes. The LBMA Gold Price will be will be set twice
daily--at 1030 GMT and 1500 GMT--in dollars, euros and
sterling.
The U.S. Mint said on Thursday it would use the LBMA gold price
to price and settle all of its gold bullion orders, effective
Monday.
On Thursday, the gold fix was set for the last time by private
telephone conference call between the group of four banks--the
system has been in place since 1919.
The gold market has a daily turnover of around $150 billion,
making it the largest precious metals market. The silver price made
the move to an electronic platform in August last year, with a
system that is jointly managed by CME Group Inc. (CME) and Thomson
Reuters Corp. (TRI).
Platinum and palladium prices went electronic in December. Their
platform is managed by the London Metal Exchange--owned by Hong
Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. (0388.HK).
Write to Matthew Cowley at matthew.cowley@wsj.com
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