ICBC Standard Bank expanded its push into London's precious metals market by agreeing to buy one of Europe's largest vaults from Barclays.
ICBC Standard, formed last year after Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. -- China's biggest bank -- bought a controlling stake in Standard Bank's global markets business, expects the purchase of the vaulting business and related contracts to be completed in July, it said in an e-mailed statement today. No financial details were given.
About $5 trillion of transactions are cleared every year in London's gold market, which Barclays is exiting as it pulls out of precious metals. ICBC Standard last week joined the city's precious-metals clearing system and last month won classification as a market maker by the London Bullion Market Association.
"This enables us to better execute on our strategy to become one of the largest Chinese banks in the precious metals market," Mark Buncombe, head of commodities at ICBC Standard Bank, said in the statement. "The acquisition of a precious metals vault allows us to expand our services in clearing and processing." ...
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