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1. Introduction | LBMA Find out more Register for the Global Precious Metails Conference in Sorrento, Italy Global Global 中文網站 Contact About About About LBMA Our Team LBMA Board Independent Decision-Making Committee LBMA Sub-Committees Origins of the London Bullion Market History of Global Trade in Bullion Member login Market Standards Market Standards As the independent authority for precious metals, we set standards that uphold trust in the global market. Market Overview About Loco London A Guide to the Loco London Precious Metals Market Training and Education Our Standards Market Standards Global Precious Metals Code Good Delivery Responsible Sourcing Incident Review Process Regulation Resources Financial Regulation Due Diligence Regulation REACH Review Process Case Studies HQLA WGC and LBMA Launch Joint HQLA Website Gold and HQLA: Correcting Misleading Online Information LBMA Precious Metals Market Report Read about the latest quarter in the precious metals market Read now Membership Membership LBMA Membership demonstrates a commitment to uphold global standards within the precious metals market. Overview About Membership Current Members Rules for Members Become a Member How to Join Membership Eligibility Membership Benefits LBMA Subscriber Membership FAQs Already a Member? Login to stay updated with LBMA Member news and events Log in here Good Delivery Good Delivery The standard trusted around the world, Good Delivery guarantees metal quality in the market. LBMA owns and manages the Good Delivery Lists for both gold and silver. Overview About Good Delivery Good Delivery Rules and Governance Good Delivery FAQs Lists Good Delivery Current List Data Good Delivery Former List Data Russian Good Delivery Bars Information Application Process How to apply for Good Delivery accreditation Advancing Standards Proactive Monitoring Proficiency Testing Scheme Resources Reference Materials Vault Operators Training Visual Guide Physical Market Guidelines Past Assaying and Refining Conferences Good Delivery Newsletters GBI Gold Bar Security Features Gold Bar Integrity Ecosystem GDL Newsletter Read the latest newsletter from our Good Delivery team on Committee updates, refinery visits and more Read now Responsible Sourcing Responsible Sourcing All LBMA Good Delivery List Refiners must adhere to our Responsible Sourcing Programme. With annual independent auditing and public reporting, the Programme builds global demand for responsible sourcing. Overview Responsible Sourcing Approved Assurance Providers Overview Approved Assurance Providers LBMA's ASM Initiative Guidance & Tools Guidance Documents Refiners Toolkit Consultations Public Consultation: Responsible Gold Guidance Version 10 Disclosure Guidance Version 3 Resources International Bullion Centre Recommendations Introductory Training Module Responsible Sourcing FAQs Reporting Country of Origin Data Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing Reports Responsible Sourcing Newsletters Review Process Case Studies LBMA Position on the North Mara Mine Claim Supporting Pathways for Responsible ASM LBMA’s
new report explores the progress made between 2022-2025 to help build the foundations for greater inclusion of responsibly sourced ASM gold in formal supply chains. Read now Responsible Gold Guidance V10: Public Consultation RGG10 draws on implementation experience since the introduction of V9, developments in responsible sourcing practice, and LBMA’s commitment to continuous improvement. Discover more Responsible Sourcing Newsletter Summit discussions moved from dialogue to action, LBMA held its first in-person IBC roundtable, and a public consultation is launched on RGG10. Read now Pricing & Data Pricing & Data View information about LBMA prices and data. Overview About LBMA Daily Auction Prices LBMA Gold Price LBMA Silver Price LBMA Platinum and Palladium Price Clearing Vaulting Data LBMA Precious Metal Prices LBMA Daily Trade Reporting Data Clearing Data London Vault Data Value Dates Country of Origin Data LBMA Responds to PRA Consultation Paper: Modernising the Liquidity Policy Framework LBMA supports the PRA’s focus on liquidity usability, including monetisation speed, operational readiness and access to Bank of England liquidity. Discover more News News Read the latest news, publications and resources which outline our key initiatives. News and Resources Newsroom Alchemist Publications LBMA Annual Precious Metals Forecast Survey Centenary of the LBMA Gold Price Wonders of Gold Press Page IBA to Administer LBMA Platinum and Palladium Price Benchmarks from 1 July 2026 A licence from IBA is required in order to obtain, use or redistribute real-time or historical LBMA Platinum and Palladium Price data from that date. Find out more LBMA in Singapore: Strengthening Asia's Role in the Global Gold Market The 2026 Asia Pacific Metals Conference underlined Asia’s growing importance in global precious metals and the need for trusted, resilient and better-connected markets. Read more Events Events Read the latest news, upcoming events and resources. Events and Webinars Upcoming Events Past Events Webinar Series Standards of Conduct at LBMA Events Global Precious Metals Conference 2026 Join us in Sorrento where we will be delivering world class insight, networking and debate, while celebrating a landmark 25 years of this flagship event. Register now Conference 2026 Market Standards Market Standards As the independent authority for precious metals, we set standards that uphold trust in the global market. Market Overview About Loco London A Guide to the Loco London Precious Metals Market Training and Education Our Standards Market Standards Global Precious Metals Code Good Delivery Responsible Sourcing Incident Review Process Regulation Resources Financial Regulation Due Diligence Regulation REACH Review Process Case Studies HQLA WGC and LBMA Launch Joint HQLA Website Gold and HQLA: Correcting Misleading Online Information LBMA Precious Metals Market Report Read about the latest quarter in the precious metals market Discover more Membership Membership LBMA Membership demonstrates a commitment to uphold global standards within the precious metals market. Overview About Membership Current Members Rules for Members Become a Member How to J
oin Membership Eligibility Membership Benefits LBMA Subscriber Membership FAQs Already a Member? Login to stay updated with LBMA Member news and events Discover more Good Delivery Good Delivery The standard trusted around the world, Good Delivery guarantees metal quality in the market. LBMA owns and manages the Good Delivery Lists for both gold and silver. Overview About Good Delivery Good Delivery Rules and Governance Good Delivery FAQs Lists Good Delivery Current List Data Good Delivery Former List Data Russian Good Delivery Bars Information Application Process How to apply for Good Delivery accreditation Advancing Standards Proactive Monitoring Proficiency Testing Scheme Resources Reference Materials Vault Operators Training Visual Guide Physical Market Guidelines Past Assaying and Refining Conferences Good Delivery Newsletters GBI Gold Bar Security Features Gold Bar Integrity Ecosystem GDL Newsletter Read the latest newsletter from our Good Delivery team on Committee updates, refinery visits and more Discover more Responsible Sourcing Responsible Sourcing All LBMA Good Delivery List Refiners must adhere to our Responsible Sourcing Programme. With annual independent auditing and public reporting, the Programme builds global demand for responsible sourcing. Overview Responsible Sourcing Approved Assurance Providers Overview Approved Assurance Providers LBMA's ASM Initiative Guidance & Tools Guidance Documents Refiners Toolkit Consultations Public Consultation: Responsible Gold Guidance Version 10 Disclosure Guidance Version 3 Resources International Bullion Centre Recommendations Introductory Training Module Responsible Sourcing FAQs Reporting Country of Origin Data Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing Reports Responsible Sourcing Newsletters Review Process Case Studies LBMA Position on the North Mara Mine Claim Supporting Pathways for Responsible ASM LBMA’s new report explores the progress made between 2022-2025 to help build the foundations for greater inclusion of responsibly sourced ASM gold in formal supply chains. Discover more Responsible Gold Guidance V10: Public Consultation RGG10 draws on implementation experience since the introduction of V9, developments in responsible sourcing practice, and LBMA’s commitment to continuous improvement. Discover more Responsible Sourcing Newsletter Summit discussions moved from dialogue to action, LBMA held its first in-person IBC roundtable, and a public consultation is launched on RGG10. Discover more Pricing & Data Pricing & Data View information about LBMA prices and data. Overview About LBMA Daily Auction Prices LBMA Gold Price LBMA Silver Price LBMA Platinum and Palladium Price Clearing Vaulting Data LBMA Precious Metal Prices LBMA Daily Trade Reporting Data Clearing Data London Vault Data Value Dates Country of Origin Data LBMA Responds to PRA Consultation Paper: Modernising the Liquidity Policy Framework LBMA supports the PRA’s focus on liquidity usability, including monetisation speed, operational readiness and access to Bank of England liquidity. Discover more News News Read the latest news, publications and resources which outline our key initiatives. News and Resou
rces Newsroom Alchemist Publications LBMA Annual Precious Metals Forecast Survey Centenary of the LBMA Gold Price Wonders of Gold Press Page IBA to Administer LBMA Platinum and Palladium Price Benchmarks from 1 July 2026 A licence from IBA is required in order to obtain, use or redistribute real-time or historical LBMA Platinum and Palladium Price data from that date. Discover more LBMA in Singapore: Strengthening Asia's Role in the Global Gold Market The 2026 Asia Pacific Metals Conference underlined Asia’s growing importance in global precious metals and the need for trusted, resilient and better-connected markets. Discover more Events Events Read the latest news, upcoming events and resources. Events and Webinars Upcoming Events Past Events Webinar Series Standards of Conduct at LBMA Events Global Precious Metals Conference 2026 Join us in Sorrento where we will be delivering world class insight, networking and debate, while celebrating a landmark 25 years of this flagship event. Discover more Global Global Global 中文網站 Contact About About About LBMA Our Team LBMA Board Independent Decision-Making Committee LBMA Sub-Committees Origins of the London Bullion Market History of Global Trade in Bullion Member login A Guide to the Loco London Precious Metals Market 1. Introduction Contents A Guide to the Loco London Precious Metals Market Editor's Note Chief Executive’s Foreword 1. Introduction 2. London Bullion Market Association 3. London Platinum and Palladium Market 4. The Price 5. London Good Delivery – Gold and Silver 6. Good Delivery – Platinum and Palladium 7. London Precious Metals Clearing Limited 8. Precious Metal Accounts 9. Lending and Borrowing Metal 10. Options 11. Precious Metal Benchmarks 12. Bank of England 13. Futures Markets and Exchange 14. Physical Metal 15. Documentation 16. Market Regulation 17. Taxation 18. Conversion Table 19. Key Facts about Precious Metals 20. Clearing Statistics 21. Market Trade Statistics 22. Central Bank and Governmental Ownership of Gold 23. Properties of Precious Metals 24. Frequently Asked Questions 25. Annexes 26. Disclaimer Download London sits at the centre of the global precious metals markets. layout/blocks/body/_text --> Over The Counter (OTC) Members of the global precious metals markets trade with each other and with their clients on a principal-to-principal, or bilateral, basis, which means that all risks, including those of credit, are between the two parties to a transaction. This is known as an OTC market as opposed to an exchange traded environment. While transactions between members tend to be in standard dealing amounts, when dealing with clients, a dealer will provide a tailor-made service – offering quotes for variable quantities, qualities and types of precious metal as well as for various value dates and delivery locations. Thus OTC markets offer far greater flexibility for clients compared to a futures exchange that operates with standardised contract sizes, delivery dates and settlement locations. Metals Clear London While other cities, and countries, specialise in futures exchanges or in the trading of small bars, London is the fulcrum of the international OTC mark
et. So if a bank in Australia is trading precious metals with a gold mining company based in South Africa (for example) then almost inevitably the metal will settle over accounts in London. This is akin to the way in which London is the clearing centre for the British pound sterling, New York for the US dollar, Tokyo for the Japanese yen and so on. Obviously, the United Kingdom is not the world’s foremost producer of precious metals. Nor is it the world’s leading consumer of gold, silver, platinum or palladium. So how did the City of London gain this role? History The roots of the London bullion market can be traced to the partnership between Moses Mocatta and the East India Company, which started shipping gold together towards the end of the 17th century. Shortly afterwards, while Sir Isaac Newton was master of the Royal Mint, gold in England was purposely overvalued so that it became more freely circulated than silver. This increased circulation quickly led to England having a gold-based coinage, whereas the rest of Europe remained silver-based until the 1850s. The first gold rush of 1697 brought gold from Brazil into London, partly transported on ships owned by the East India Company, which had a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I. This inflow of gold led to demand for a purpose-built London vault, which the Bank of England duly set up. Its ‘bullion warehouse’ served the whole of the European market, as it does now, and was further stocked by the influx to London from the subsequent gold rushes in California, Australia and South Africa. The refineries that were set up to process this gold were located close to the Bank of England (owner of the St Luke’s refinery), which played a key role in being a custodian, regulator and facilitator of the lending and selling of gold by other banks. layout/blocks/body/_text --> 1489 Sovereign In 1750, the Bank set up the London Good Delivery List, which formally recognised those refineries that produced gold bars of a certain standard and could therefore be allowed to enter the London market. Today, this list is regarded as the only globally accepted accreditation for the bullion market, ensuring that the wholesale bullion bars traded in the market meet the standards and quality required for Good Delivery status. By 1850, five companies – N M Rothschild & Sons, Mocatta & Goldsmid, Pixley & Abell, Samuel Montagu & Co. and Sharps Wilkins – were already established and flourishing. The term ‘London Gold Market’ originally referred solely to these five companies, which had been formed to oversee the operation of the gold market in London. In 1919, the London Gold Market set up the first Gold Price setting at Rothschild’s offices. The London Gold Market was also responsible for Good Delivery accreditations and the maintenance of the resulting List of Acceptable Melters and Assayers, as the List was originally known. The fact that London is at the centre of international time zones has always facilitated it being the optimum place from which to operate in the market. The Market’s five original members remained essentially unchanged for many years. However, by the 1980s, the development of the
global precious metals industry was such that the Bank of England recognised that the custody, maintenance and regulation of the Good Delivery List required an independent body. This was the catalyst for the founding of the LBMA in 1987, but while London can trace its history in precious metals back several hundred years, the human race’s fascination with precious metals, gold in particular, goes back several millennia. layout/blocks/body/_text --> The Bank of England Bullion Receiving Office There is evidence suggesting that the Egyptians were mining gold underground as far back as 2000 BCE, with rivers giving up nuggets of the metal even longer ago than that. Obviously, much has changed in the intervening 4,000 years, not least with the first silver coins thought to have been minted some 2,700 years ago, with gold ones following on 200 years later. It is of fundamental importance that when these precious metals are being used for monetary purpose – both as a medium of exchange as well as a store of value – then the purity of that metal must be of recognised quality. Clearly, the Bank of England understood this when it undertook that task over 250 years ago. However, the notion of acceptable quality dates considerably further back in history and the first attempts at applying uniform standards took place over 1,500 years ago in the Byzantine Empire. The oldest assayers in the United Kingdom, the Goldsmiths’ Company, has been in existence a rather more modest 700 years or so and traces its history back to the early part of the 14th century. “In 1300 King Edward I passed a statute requiring gold and silver to be of a defined standard and requiring ‘les Gardeins du Mester’ (Guardians of the Craft) to test it and mark it with the leopard’s head. This was supposedly taken from the royal arms and later known as the King’s mark. This is the first legal recognition of the Company, and the beginning of hallmarking in Britain. In 1327 the Company received its first royal charter, giving it the right to enforce good authority, the standards within the trade and emphasising its standing over provincial goldsmiths.” (Extract from the website of the Goldsmiths’ Company ). London Good Delivery While the earliest standards tended to concentrate on individual articles made of precious metals, the Bank of England formally recognised those refineries that produced gold bars to the required standard in 1750 via the London Good Delivery List for gold. Today, the responsibility, for both gold and silver lists, is managed by the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). Platinum and palladium, by contrast, are relatively recent additions to human knowledge. Platinum was first isolated in the 18th century and palladium in the 19th. London has always been an important centre for these metals as well, with trading being established in the 20th century and usually taking place alongside the longer-established gold and silver. In 1973, the London Platinum Quotation was introduced – a forerunner of the fixings and subsequently the auctions – a twice-daily indication of the market price for spot platinum, reported by some of the principal companies dealing in the metal.
In 1979, the leading London and Zurich dealers reached an agreement to standardise the specifications and provenance of metal which they would accept as Good Delivery. In 1987, the informal trading, which had taken place for many years on a principal-to-principal basis, was formalised via a Deed of Establishment into the London Platinum and Palladium Market (LPPM). Simultaneously, the LPPM began management of the Good Delivery Lists for platinum and palladium. LBMA and LPPM The LBMA is the pre-eminent body for the world’s largest and most important market for gold and silver bullion. The international bullion market is centred in London, with a global client base comprising all the central banks that manage their gold reserves, private sector investors, mining companies and others. The LBMA’s membership incorporates approximately 150 firms, including traders, refiners, producers, fabricators, as well as those providing storage and secure carrier services. The LPPM can claim similar credentials for platinum and palladium, with its operations also centred in London and more than 50 members involved in the trading, mining and refining of the PGMs. Given the different profiles of the various members of both organisations, membership categories are divided into subcategories. Details of these, along with the respective members, can be found on the websites of the LBMA and LPPM. layout/blocks/body/_media --> Barricks Pueblo Viejo Gold Mine in the Dominican Republic layout/blocks/body/_text --> Precious Metals While gold, silver, platinum and palladium can be grouped together under the generic term of precious metals, the logistics of mining them as well as the rationale for owning them vary a great deal. Indeed, gold is used in few industrial processes (in part due to its cost) and its attraction is often cited more generally as being a hedge against inflation or uncertainty or as a store of value, rather than anything else. Silver, on the other hand, straddles more comfortably the different fields of investment and industrial use (it is primarily used in photovoltaic cells but also still in photographic film) and platinum and palladium sit more solidly in the industrial metal camp. The primary use of platinum and palladium is in the catalytic convertors used to reduce unwelcome emissions from diesel (platinum) and petrol (palladium) engine vehicles. Section 19 lists some key facts and figures in mining, as well as in the usage, of all four metals. layout/blocks/body/_related --> Chief Executive’s Foreword This guide is intended to be a detailed and definitive primer for any investor or institution looking to understand and take part in the global Over The Counter (OTC) Precious Metals market, physically located in London. Find out more 2. London Bullion Market Association The LBMA is the international trade association that represents the market for gold and silver bullion, which is centred in London but which has a global client base, including the majority of the central banks that hold gold, private sector investors, mining companies, producers, refiners and fabricators. Find out more Stay updated Register to access the latest LBMA news and ev
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