21 April 2005
The London Gold Market Fixing Limited announced that HSBC will assume the chairmanship of the Fixing on 3 May 2005 for a period of 12 months.
As of May 2004, it was decided that the chairmanship of the Fixing would rotate annually among the five member firms. Under this arrangement, The Bank of Nova Scotia, through its precious Metals Division ScotiaMocatta, held the chairmanship since 5 May 2004.
Since that date, the Fixing has taken place by telephone and the five member firms no longer meet face-to-face, as was previously the case.
Simon Weeks, Chairman of the London Gold Fixing, said: "The changes introduced a year ago have been a great success. The London Gold Fixing has been the leading international benchmark for gold for over 80 years. The rotating chairmanship and use of the telephone for the daily meeting of the five members firms strengthened the Fixing, which continues to have widespread support among market and industry participants."
Chairman-elect, Jeremy Charles, managing director of HSBC Precious Metals, London, added that the changeover would be seamless for market participants.
The London Gold Fixing, which emerged in the wake of the First World War as a means of restoring systematic valuation to the gold market after the uncertainties of the wartime years, provides a published benchmark price widely used as a pricing reference by producers, consumers, investors and central banks.
The first London Gold Fixing took place on 12 September 1919. Over the course of more than 80 years of the Gold Fixing, the highest Fix was US$850 per ounce on 21 January 1980, amid the political crisis in the Middle East, high oil prices and inflation. The longest Fixing lasted for 2 hours and fifteen minutes when the stock markets crashed on Black Monday in late October 1987.
