ICE wins race to run the London gold fix

London’s near century-old gold fix will be replaced by an electronic system run by U.S.-based ICE Benchmark Administration from the first quarter of 2015, the London Bullion Market Association said on Friday.

Participants will now fix the global gold benchmark twice a day, as banks opted out of a system that had been in place since September 1919.

The new system aims to increase transparency in the wake of rate-rigging scandals. LBMA said the auction will be in dollars, euros and sterling, with bids and offers published in real time and the price updated every 30 seconds.

The LBMA ran two market surveys, a seminar and met with participants during a consultation period in which a consensus was reached that IBA should be the administrator, the association said. IBA is responsible for the London interbank offered rate.

The announcement is the special interest to Chinese investors, which reportedly have approached the LBMA to be part of the silver pricing benchmark.

London is the world’s largest trading center for precious metals. Total demand for gold last year was $184 billion, according to the World Gold Council.