The final price is then published as the LBMA Gold Price or LBMA Silver Price in US Dollars and also converted into the benchmarks in British Pounds and Euros using foreign exchange rates from when the final round ended. N.B. the gold and silver auctions settle against US Dollars only. The benchmarks in British Pounds and Euros are not tradeable directly through the auction.

The prices during the auction are determined by an algorithm that takes into account current market conditions and the activity in the auction. Each auction is actively supervised by IBA staff.

Participants also have 30 minutes directly before the auction starts to queue up their orders. This is known as ‘Round zero’.

Licensing

The LBMA Gold Price and LBMA Silver Price benchmark settings are available under licence from IBA (including for valuation and pricing activities and for use in transactions). Prospective licensees should contact IBA’s licensing team at [email protected] for information on how to obtain a usage licence from IBA.

Please read IBA’s Benchmark and Other Information Notice and Disclaimer.

There are two categories of participants in the IBA Precious Metals auctions:

Direct Participants share the imbalance, whereas Indirect Participants do not.

Criteria for becoming a Participant

The criteria for becoming and remaining a Direct or an Indirect Participant are:

Current Auction Participants

The current participants are:

How to Become a Participant

Please contact ICE Benchmark Administration for more information on becoming a participant:

[email protected] or: +44 (0)20 7429 7100

The IBA Gold and Silver auctions are centrally cleared which allows a broad range of firms to become Direct Participants (please refer to the section on Participation below).

Central clearing for the auctions is enabled by the ICE Daily Gold and ICE Daily Silver futures contracts. These are physically settled, daily futures contracts for loco London gold and silver.

All Direct Participants must be able to centrally clear futures contracts, but they also have the option to select their preferences for a cleared or bilateral match against each other Direct Participant.

At the end of the auction the volumes are matched up, with priority given to matching the bilateral preferences first, if possible. A firm will receive a bilateral match only where they have set their preference against another Direct Participant to bilateral, and the other Direct Participant has done the same, and there is volume that can be matched between the two firms.

Volume which is not matched and settled bilaterally must be converted into centrally cleared, daily futures contracts submitted to ICE Futures US at the benchmark price via exchange for physical (EFP) trades. These trades will be submitted for the Direct Participant by ICE Metals Broking.

When taken to delivery, the cleared futures contract settles according to the spot convention. The metal is settled as unallocated metal via London Precious Metals Clearing (LPMCL) accounts and the cash component settles at ICE Clear US.

IBA is responsible for ensuring that there is appropriate governance over the IBA Precious Metals Auctions and the LBMA Gold and Silver Price benchmarks, and that the appropriate standards of conduct are met.

IBA does this through its Auction Rule Book that all Participants are required to adhere to and through the Precious Metals Oversight Committee which has broad representation from the Gold and Silver markets.

The Oversight Committee is responsible for monitoring the administration of the LBMA Gold and Silver Price benchmarks, including:

Oversight Committee Composition

Oversight Committee Terms of Reference

Further details on IBA’s general governance structure, including IBA’s independent Board of Directors, whistleblowing policy and other policies are available on IBA’s Governance page.

Minutes of the Oversight Committee

Minutes of previous committee meetings (including the LBMA Gold Price Oversight Committee) are available here:

Precious Metals Benchmark Statement

Methodology ESG Annex

Gold Auction Specification Document

Silver Auction Specification Document

Precious Metals Error Policy

Precious Metals Changes and Cessation Procedure

Changes to the methodology are governed by IBA’s consultation policy.

Current and recent consultations are available below: