LONDON, Nov. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Royal Mint, the
world's leading export mint, and CME Group, the world's leading and
most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced a
collaboration to transform the way that market participants can
trade gold.
The Royal Mint, a 1,000-year-old institution owned by HM
Treasury, has partnered with CME Group to build and launch a
digitised gold offering called Royal Mint Gold (RMG). RMG
will change the way traders and investors trade, execute and settle
gold.
The innovative new product, launching in 2017, will see The
Royal Mint issue RMG as a digital record of ownership for gold
stored at its highly-secure on-site bullion vault storage facility.
CME Group will develop, implement and operate the product's
digital trading platform. Taken together, this new service
will provide an easier, cost-effective and cryptographically secure
alternative to buying, holding and trading spot gold.
Commenting on the announcement, Vin
Wijeratne, CFO of The Royal Mint, said, "The Royal Mint has
a unique history and a trusted reputation earned over many
centuries trading in gold but until now, there hasn't been a way to
digitally trade physical gold.
"Developing a trading platform with CME Group will satisfy
customer demands for faster, cost effective and secure ways to buy,
hold and sell gold and complement our existing products. This
landmark partnership allows us to combine the world's leading mint,
the best futures trading platform globally and best in class
technology."
David Janczewski, Director of New
Business at The Royal Mint said, "Distributed ledger technology is
a game changer and supplying gold on a blockchain has been on our
minds for some time, but only after partnering with CME Group did
we feel we had the right fit and proposition.
"We're now inviting the wider market to participate in this
project alongside us and CME Group and we look forward to engaging
with interested parties in the days ahead. Participation will
enable us to develop the platforms to be able to connect to the CME
network and trade gold."
CME Group will launch a digital trading platform which will
operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Unlike the traditional
physical spot cost model for investing in gold with management fees
and ongoing storage charges levied, RMGs will offer ownership of
the underlying gold with the option for conversion to physical gold
by The Royal Mint with zero storage cost.
The initial amount of RMG at launch could be up to $1 billion worth of gold. It will be offered
through investment providers. Further RMG will then be issued based
on market demand.
Julie Winkler, Senior Managing
Director, Research, Product Development and Index Services at CME
Group said, "Developing a digital gold trading platform will help
ensure that CME Group's current product offerings meet the evolving
needs of the global marketplace. As we continue to expand our
global footprint and develop new products, this platform will help
set standards for digital assets in financial markets. "
Sandra Ro, Digitization Lead at
CME Group, added, "Innovation is at the heart of CME Group's
business, and the work we have done on RMG with The Royal Mint is
testament to CME Group's progress on the application of digital
assets and distributed ledger technology to financial markets. By
collaborating with The Royal Mint, we have set a new milestone in
the digitization of value."
Interested parties wishing to find out more about this
innovative new service should register at www.royalmint.com/RMG or
email RMGinfo@royalmint.com.
The Royal Mint and CME Group will be hosting a conference call
this morning for media on Tuesday, November
29 at 9.30am GMT. The dial-in
details are as follows:
Conference ID: 5120357
International dial-in: + 1 913-312-0647
France: +33 (0) 1 70 71 29 52
Germany: +49 (0) 69 3339 9503
United Kingdom: +44 (0) 20 8150
0795
A replay will be available shortly after the call for international
media.
Images
The Royal Mint retains copyright ownership © of all images. These
may only be used for editorial purposes and cannot be sold or used
for other marketing purposes without the permission of The Royal
Mint.
About The Royal Mint
The Royal Mint has an unbroken history of
minting British coinage dating back over 1,000 years. By the late
thirteenth century the organisation was based in the Tower of
London, and remained there for
over 500 years. By 1812 The Royal Mint had moved out of the Tower
to premises on London's Tower
Hill. In 1967 the building of a new Royal Mint began on its current
site in South Wales, UK.
While The Royal Mint's finest traditions are always respected,
it continually innovates in order to stay at the forefront of world
minting, embracing the latest production techniques and technology
in order to offer excellence to our clients across the globe. By
underpinning our proud heritage with a highly progressive outlook,
The Royal Mint produces coins that remain a byword for trust and
reliability the world over.
There were estimated to be 28.9 billion UK coins in circulation
at 31 March 2014, with a total face
value of over £4 billion, all manufactured by The Royal Mint. In
total, nearly 2 billion UK coins were issued during 2013-14.
As well as over 1,000 years of producing British coinage, The
Royal Mint has long been trusted with the currencies of other
countries. It has served more than 100 issuing authorities around
the world and currently meets approximately 15% of global demand,
making us the world's leading export mint.
The Royal Mint has been making official military campaign medals
since it was commissioned to make awards for soldiers who fought in
the battle of Waterloo in 1815. The year 2012 was of particular
significance for The Royal Mint's medal-making team, with the
manufacture of all 4,700 Victory Medals for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Royal Mint has recently introduced a new fineness of
Britannia bullion coins and a highly-secure on-site bullion vault
storage facility, building on the gold Sovereign's long-standing
reputation for integrity and accuracy.
In September 2014, The Royal Mint
launched a new bullion trading website, www.royalmintbullion.com,
enabling customers to buy, store and sell bullion coins at
constantly updated prices directly from The Royal Mint quickly,
effortlessly and securely, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
In January 2015, The Royal Mint
announced the revival of The Royal Mint Refinery bullion brand.
Gold and silver minted bars bearing the historic marque became
available for the first time since 1968, available direct to the
public at www.royalmintbullion.com.
In June 2015, The Royal Mint
launched Signature Gold, a new addition to its bullion trading
service, allowing customers to purchase and own a fractional amount
of a 400 oz gold bar from www.royalmintbullion.com.
In May 2016 The Royal Mint opened
its new visitor attraction, The Royal Mint Experience, at its
location in Llantrisant, South
Wales. Book a visit and a factory tour online at
www.royalmint.com/experience.
About CME Group
As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace,
CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage
risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global
benchmark products across all major asset classes, including
futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes,
foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals. Around
the world, CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its
CME Globex® electronic trading platform and its exchanges based in
Chicago, New York and London. CME Group also operates one of the
world's leading central counterparty clearing providers through CME
Clearing and CME Clearing Europe, which offer clearing and
settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded and
over-the-counter derivatives. CME Group's products and services
ensure that businesses around the world can effectively manage risk
and achieve growth.
CME Group is a trademark of CME Group Inc. The Globe Logo, CME,
Globex and Chicago Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of Chicago
Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT, the Chicago Board of Trade, KCBOT, KCBT and
Kansas City Board of Trade are
trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York
Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are registered trademarks of New
York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity
Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners. Further information about CME Group (NASDAQ:
CME) and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com
CME-G
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SOURCE CME Group