Silver Price Going Electronic in Quest for Transparency
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The silver-pricing method begun during the reign of Queen Victoria ends today in London as the $5 trillion market shifts to a more transparent process and regulators expand scrutiny of how commodity benchmarks are set.
An electronic, auction-based mechanism will replace a ritualized negotiation among a few traders that’s been in place for 117 years. Silver becomes the first of the precious-metals markets to ditch a daily “fixing” procedure where dealers agree to a price over the telephone. Revamps also are planned this year for fixings in gold, platinum and palladium.