China owned metals exchange to apply to take over London Silver Fix

6:46 AM china, futures market, gold, lme, London silver fix, shanghai gold exchange, silver 1 Comment

Yesterday we wrote about the fact that the London Metals Exchange (LME), a Hong Kong based subsidiary, was in the process of opening its own gold and silver futures market in London with the intention of providing both cash and physical settlement of precious metals.

Now on May 10 the news just dropped that the LME was applying to take over and run the London Silver Fix, and replace the group (Thompson-Reuters + CME Group) that had cancelled their contract with the LBMA just a few months ago.

The London Metal Exchange (LME) will submit a proposal to take over the London silver fix, a senior executive said on Wednesday, the first company to publicly express interest in replacing the current operators of the price benchmark. 

James Proudlock, managing director and head of market development for the exchange and its clearing business, said the exchange would take part in the process after a request for proposals (RFP) was recently issued to find a replacement for CME Group and Thomson Reuters. 

Those companies said in March they would step down from providing the silver price benchmark auction less than three years after successfully bidding to provide the process.
"There is a silver RFP for the silver benchmark. As a metal exchange, we will participate in the RFP," said Proudlock. - Reuters

China already controls the world's largest physical gold market out of the Shanghai Gold Exchange and this potential takeover of the West's futures market could see the Far Eastern economy achieve a dominating position in both the paper and physical global markets.