Silver News

Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of UK-based Barclays PLC, has launched its online trading system for base and precious metals, aiming to attract a wide range of clients, company officials said. The trading platform is similar to that used by the company to serve foreign exchange transactions.

The trading system will provide continuous proprietary quotes for three months futures contracts for base metals and spot prices for precious metals. With Barclays’ entry, there are now four screen-based systems: LME Select, the London Metal Exchange’s system, which is limited to exchange members; Spectron, run by Spectron Group Limited, which operates various neutral e-marketplaces for energy and metals; and one from Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) which allows traders to buy and sell on LME Select under the Dresdner name.

According to Barclays officials, their system will be quote driven, allowing clients to trade directly with Barclays. There is no monthly fee, and trading commissions would be the same as those charged by Barclays for similar phone trades.

Silver News - Fourth Quarter 2003