REFILE-UPDATE 2-World Gold Council calls meeting to explore gold fix reform – by Eric Onstad and Clara Denina (Reuters U.S. – June 18, 2014)

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LONDON, June 18 (Reuters) – A discussion by gold buyers and sellers across the market on ways to reform or replace London’s global price benchmark, known as the “fix”, will be held next month by the World Gold Council.

The discussion comes as gold and silver fixes, along with other commodity benchmarks, face increased scrutiny by regulators in Europe and the United States following the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) manipulation case in 2012.

WGC, a gold mining industry group, said on Wednesday bullion banks, refiners, fund firms, central banks and mining companies had been invited to the forum, with a first meeting scheduled for July 7 in London. Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority will attend the discussion forum as an observer.

The discussions are separate to the London Bullion Market Association’s (LBMA) process aimed at finding a replacement for daily silver pricing, which will be disbanded in August.

Members of the association, including gold and silver fixing banks Deutsche Bank, Scotiabank, HSBC and other large bullion-trading banks will discuss proposals at a seminar on June 20. Sources say that an electronic solution to the silver fix could be applied to price-setting for gold and platinum group metals.

But WGC said that would not necessarily be the case.

“We simply seek to convene a debate on the issue … the gold and silver market are very different, and it is not necessarily the case that the solution found to replace the silver fix is then applied to gold at all,” Natalie Dempster, WGC managing director, told Reuters.

LBMA CEO Ruth Crowell said, “The WGC’s perspective from its gold mining members and the exchange-traded funds investment community ensures an important dimension to the ongoing benchmark discussion.”

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