Trading has commenced today on the Australian Bullion Exchange (‘ABX’), Australia’s first physical bullion exchange.
The ABX has commenced operations with a ‘soft launch’ phase with trading initially limited to select brokers and investors on an ‘invitation-only’ basis. Following this first phase, a list of registered broker Members will be provided on the ABX website and retail investors will be able to trade on the ABX through one of the broker Members.
The ABX is an Australian domiciled over-the-counter spot market for investment-grade gold, silver and platinum bullion. The Exchange is a principal-to-principal investment market formed through a member structure of finance and bullion industry participants. The ABX provides a holistic investment facility also offering investors custody services including storage, transport and insurance.
Thomas Coughlin, CEO of the ABX, said: “This is Australia’s first centralised market to buy and sell investment-grade bullion. Previously, investment options for direct ownership of physical bullion have been limited. The ABX provides a marketplace that is simple, secure and highly accessible while creating competition and increasing market efficiency.”
The ABX is the product of almost two years of planning and considerable investment in infrastructure to ensure world best practice quality assurance frameworks, security, technology platform and governance structures.
“There has been considerable interest from industry participants including current and prospective Members. In the near future, we expect to be in a position to name a number of Members including large national and international parties,” said Mr Coughlin.
The market will be priced on the ABX Australian spot price for gold, silver and platinum in nine different currencies. The price will be determined by supply and demand forces for Australian bullion. The prices for each of the precious metals will be published on the company’s website daily.
Trading on the ABX is between 9am and 5pm (AEST) Monday to Friday with plans to trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the future.