Gold Bullion Market "Moving to Asia"

LONDON'S DOMINANCE of Gold Bullion dealing worldwide faces a major challenge – and opportunity – in the fast-rising Asian jewelry and investment markets, according to a senior bullion player.

Writing in The Alchemist magazine – published for members of the London Bullion Market Association – "Now is the time for the London bullion market to look to the traded gold market in Asia for its future development," says Tim Wilson, managing director of metals at J.P.Morgan, which recently opened the first LBMA-linked vault in Singapore.

Asia accounted for 82% of Gold Bullion bar hoarding last year, Wilson notes, as well as the No.1 source of Gold Mining supply, China.

Most spectacularly, says the investment bank's metals MD, "Population growth in the emerging markets is destined to have positive implications for gold demand [because] gold has a higher significance than in the Western world."

As a key example, Wilson cites Vietnam, where per capita Gold Bullion demand – whether as coins, bars or jewelry – "is more or less on par with the German equivalent, although German per capita GDP is 40 times higher than that of Vietnam."

Ahead of this September's LBMA conference in Berlin – which full member BullionVault will be attending – Wilson urges the Association to put "an Asian initiative" on the agenda of each of its committees.

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