Citi has officially joined London Precious Metals Clearing Limited (LPMCL) as its fifth clearing member, effective July 6, 2026. It’s the first new addition to this exclusive club in roughly a decade, placing Citi alongside JPMorgan, UBS, ICBC Standard Bank, and HSBC at the center of the world’s largest physical gold market.
LPMCL handles the net settlement of over 20 million ounces of gold daily across a market with an estimated daily turnover of around $160 billion in precious metals.
What Citi is actually building
Citi is backing its clearing seat with real physical infrastructure, reportedly establishing a new vault near Heathrow Airport in collaboration with Malca-Amit to support gold settlement services.
Reports from late 2025 indicated that Morgan Stanley is also exploring vaulting capabilities in London, suggesting both banks see an opportunity to challenge the concentrated infrastructure that a handful of incumbents have controlled for years.
