Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Gold Rush : The Bullion Trail

What happens to gold once it's been refined and how is the precious metal priced? A look at the middlemen of the gold world, with Bob Pisani."it was hot right down there in Johannesburg, south africa, we trafrled to the deepest mine in the world, and then we went to the world's biggest refinery outside of Johannesburg. what happens to the gold once it's refined and how is it priced? meet the middlemen of the gold world. the bullion banks. London. an epicenter of the gold bullion market where about $75 billion worth of gold is traded every day. banks like HSBC trade much of the world's bullion which is housed and bought all over the world like this one in London. whether the banks buy the gold directly from the miners and refiners or hold it for clients, want banks serve as a vital intermediary according to HSBC's global head of precious metals Jeremy Charles. when the producers want to sell. they can sell to a bank. when a consumer wants to buy, they can buy from a bank. it's a lot of different things the banks can do with it. they can store it for private clients or exchange-traded funds or central banks or they can sell it to other banks or they can advance it to jewelry manufacturers and industrial companies. Jim is a managing director on the gold trading desk in new york. he says bullion banks operate a lot like traditional banks. it's kind of like a microcosm of a bank where the bank does finance, cash management and other services. we do that in precious metals for clients. bullion banks play an important role in the daily price of gold and it all starts in London. for 100 years the spot or cash price of gold has been set at a twice daily conference known as the fix. now done by phone, between five bullion dealers who settle the price based on the buy and sell orders of their customers."

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