LBMA adviser, former Barclays exec will help central banks rig the gold market

By Ronan Manly
Sunday, May 3, 2015

A few weeks ago, through GATA, I called attention to the assertion by the chief executive of the London Bullion Market Association, Ruth Crowell, that the London gold market can never be fully transparent while central banks remain such big participants:

http://www.gata.org/node/15241

Here is another telling comment by someone connected to the LBMA concerning central banks and the gold market, Jonathan Spall. The comment is found on the Internet site of his precious metals consultancy company, G Cubed Metals Ltd.:

http://gcubedmetals.com/index.html

G Cubed Metals Ltd. was established by Spall last year soon after he left Barclays in London, where he was a product manager in the commodities area and acted as one of Barclays' directors in the London Gold Market Fixing Ltd. company.

... Dispatch continues below ...

---

ADVERTISEMENT

Buy precious metals free of value-added tax throughout Europe

Europe Silver Bullion is a fast-growing dealer sourcing its products from renowned mints, refiners, and distributors. Because of a legal loophole that will close soon, you can acquire the world's most popular bullion coins free of value-added tax throughout the European Union. You can collect your order in person at our headquarters in Tallinn, Estonia, or have it delivered in any of the 28 EU countries.

Europe Silver Bullion is owned and operated by North American and European experts in selling, storing, and transporting precious metals. We have an extensive product inventory of silver, gold, platinum, and palladium, and our network spans the world.

Visit us at www.europesilverbullion.com.

---

Since leaving Barclays, Spall has, he says, conducted an "independent review" of the candidates for the LBMA silver price competition (last June and July), served as an "independent chair" for the LPPM daily platinum and palladium fixings last August until they moved to an automated platform, and last October was appointed "senior adviser" to the LBMA.

Spall provides his credentials at his company's Internet site here:

http://gcubedmetals.com/credentials.html.

Other people, not identified by G Cubed, are described as the firm's affiliates, since Spall "has teamed up with a number of other leading authorities in this field" so that "G Cubed Metals will be able to put together the right team for the job":

http://gcubedmetals.com/affiliates.html

Spall's telling comment about central banks is on the "Services" page of the G Cubed site. He says:

"All connected with G Cubed Metals are well aware of the need for confidentiality in all financial markets as well as the additional sensitivity that comes from transacting in precious metals -- particularly when it involves the 'official sector' such as governments, central banks, and sovereign wealth funds."

See: http://gcubedmetals.com/services.html

And a duplicate in PDF format, just in case:

http://www.gata.org/files/GCubedMetalsServices.pdf

Confidentiality in business is often a given, and in relation to precious metals, if the "additional sensitivity" in precious metals transaction was related to physical security and security of transport and vaulting, this would fall under normal "additional security." But the context of Spall's comment suggests that this "additional sensitivity" means market sensitivity. This is supported by the Spall's next observation, which clarifies that, yes, indeed, there is a need for "additional sensitivity" particularly "when it involves the official sector, such as governments, central banks, and sovereign wealth funds."

Spall therefore concedes that the London gold market and the LBMA will not provide transparency when dealing with the "official sector" because the "official sector" requires this lack of transparency. Spall's statements thus also indicate that the commercial sector will gladly give the official sector this "additional sensitivity" -- that is, this lack of transparency.

So the question becomes: What transactions in gold are being undertaken by the "official sector" that require such secrecy and sensitivity?

Most likely these official transactions involve the surreptitious rigging of the gold and currency markets, transactions that, in 1999, the staff of the International Monetary Fund found member central banks so determined to conceal:

http://www.gata.org/node/12016

Spall's advertisement for his new company is more evidence supporting the frequent assertion by GATA Secretary/Treasurer Chris Powell that "the location and disposition of national gold reserves are secrets far more sensitive than the location and disposition of nuclear weapons."

-----

Ronan Manly is a gold market researcher and consultant to GATA.

* * *

Support GATA by purchasing recordings of the proceedings of the 2014 New Orleans Investment Conference:

https://jeffersoncompanies.com/landing/2014-av-powell

Or by purchasing DVDs of GATA's London conference in August 2011 or GATA's Dawson City conference in August 2006:

http://www.goldrush21.com/order.html

Or by purchasing a colorful GATA T-shirt:

http://gata.org/tshirts

Or a colorful poster of GATA's full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal on January 31, 2009:

http://gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

Help keep GATA going

GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe at:

http://www.gata.org

To contribute to GATA, please visit:

http://www.gata.org/node/16