By Ese Erheriene
Two more banks will join the price-setting panel of the new gold
fix on Monday, taking the total number of participants to 10, the
Intercontinental Exchange Inc. said in a statement.
Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered will begin contributing to
the twice-daily electronic price on Monday, along with Bank of
China, whose participation was unveiled last week, the ICE
said.
A second Chinese bank, China Construction Bank, is on track to
become the eleventh direct participant, the ICE said, adding that
it expects further new participants in the coming weeks.
"These enhancements are encouraging more firms to participate
and contribute valuable liquidity to the benchmark setting
process," said Finbarr Hutcheson, president of ICE Benchmark
Administration.
The LBMA gold price is used by a broad range of firms, from
miners to jewelry makers, to settle billions of dollars' worth of
gold trades daily.
Volumes have increased significantly since the electronic fix
was launched in March, according to the ICE. The average daily
volumes for the morning and afternoon gold auctions are more than
double the levels in the five months before the electronic launch,
it said.
The change to an electronic platform was made as part of an
effort to reform financial benchmarks in the wake of allegations of
manipulation.
Write to Ese Erheriene at ese.erheriene@wsj.com
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