Among the wider precious metals community, it would be fair to say that the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) has always been looked upon with a degree of suspicion. The reasons for the suspicion include: That the LBMA banks created and unleashed on to the world the concept of fractional-reserve bullion banking, unallocated precious metal accounts, and synthetic cash-settled paper gold products unbacked or fractionally-backed by physical metal. That the founding members of the LBMA were a group of powerful bullion banks and brokers. That the LBMA was founded “at the behest” of the Bank of England. That the ... (full story)