London association clears Perth Mint

The Perth Mint has kept its spot on the London Bullion Market Association’s ‘good delivery' list following an investigation launched into the organisation’s historical conduct.

The Perth Mint was brought into the spotlight a month ago after a Four Corners report lifted the lid on a three-year doping program that resulted in gold bars falling below required standards of one of its clients, Shanghai Gold Exchange.

Perth Mint has since clarified that the breaches do not relate to the required 99.99 per cent gold purity standard but the contained silver in the remaining 0.01 per cent.

It has also maintained that ‘doping’ or diluting gold bullion with silver is an accepted process in the industry.

Nonetheless, the matter gained the attention of independent precious metals authority, London Bullion Metals Exchange, which announced it had launched an incident review process into the allegations on March 10.

That review process was today announced as completed with the Perth Mint retaining its place on the London Bullion Market Association’s 'good delivery' list.

However, in its review the LBMA determined there were elements of the Perth Mint’s management systems that needed to be strengthened through a ‘corrective action plan’ audited by a third party.

“We greatly value our longstanding relationship with the LBMA and are committed to working through the Corrective Action Plan,” Perth Mint chief executive Jason Waters said.

“The Perth Mint has embarked on a comprehensive, fully funded program to remediate our anti-money laundering processes and ensure best practice in everything that we do.”

An Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre investigation into Perth Mint’s anti-money laundering processes is under way, with the outcome expected later this year.