What does LBMA stand for and what is it for?

When it comes to the gold market you may have heard of the term “LBMA Certified” The LBMA stands for the London Bullion Market Association. 

If you hold or receive gold bullion bars that are “LBMA Certified”, then these claims can only be specifically made by bullion refineries that meet a specific high standard. These stringent criteria, are put in place and regularly monitored by the LBMA, it produces a standard that is trusted around the world (also known as, ’Good Delivery’). 

The London Good Delivery List, was originally set up by the Bank of England in 1750 to formally recognise refiners who produce gold bars to this specific high standard. 

The LBMA eventually took over and are now tasked with regulating the bullion market, setting purity and refining standards, facilitate trades, and even set rules regarding weight, safe handling and stacking.

If a refiner wants their company and gold/silver products to appear on the LBMA list then they must meet the strict criteria. If they manage to get onto the approved list, then there is immediate acknowledgement and trust that what the refiner is producing is a very high quality industry standard product. 

Examples of gold bar specifications include: 

Gold Fineness:

Minimum acceptable fineness is 995.0 parts per thousand fine gold

Marks:

Serial number

Assay stamp of refiner

Fineness (to four significant figures)

Year of manufacture (Source LBMA.org.uk). 

For you the customer, these regulations and high standards mean you can trust that what you are buying is of high quality and genuine. 

Therefore, if you are looking to purchase large quantities of gold bars it would be advisable for you to go for a product with ‘Good Delivery’ status.