Firms operating in the precious metals space have teamed up with a provider of unique identifiers for financial securities to shake up how these assets are traded.

(An earlier version of this article appeared on Family Wealth Report, sister publication to this one; it is repeated here because of the oft-noted interest in precious metals globally.)

Trading and investing in precious metals such as gold has taken a decisive move into the 21st century by a partnership agreement in the US that sees metals assigned with a CUSIP identifier for the first time, organisations involved in the move say.

Gold Frontiers, a US-headquartered software and services company working with family offices and other institutions to invest in precious metals, has partnered with CUSIP, the common language identifier for financial instruments, and Republic Metals Corporation, the refiner, to make it possible for precious metals to be assigned a CUSIP identifier. The partnership created the first gold “Kilobar” that has a unique instrument level CUSIP number attached to it.

The move was announced at the weekend by Republic Metals Corporation at a conference in San Antonio. Conference attendees included banks, exchanges, refiners, suppliers, vaulters and others in the bullion industry.

The Kilobar was displayed at the conference along with the original assay certificate, the “Stock In” certificate displaying the CUSIP number, a screenshot displaying the bar in Gold Frontiers’ inventory with the serial number and CUSIP number, and documentation showing the chain of custody of the bar (made possible by the unique CUSIP identifier). Security for the bar was provided by Loomis International.

The use of such identifiers for gold and other precious metals will give the market the same flexibility and speed that is enjoyed by public equity markets, Gold Frontiers has explained to this publication recently. The development also comes at a time when avenues for trading physical gold via modern technology are still relatively rare, the firm has said.

Gold Frontiers and Republic Metals have been discussing this development to bring a common language to the precious metals market.

“The time has arrived for a new generation of asset-backed currencies to rejuvenate the monetary system with the decisiveness that SWIFT brought to cash management. This quantum leap proved the value of innovation to catapult old industries successfully into the digital age,” Gold Frontiers said in a note.

“Much as SWIFT articulated proprietary standards for global transmission of data among banks that transformed the secure movement of cash, Gold Frontiers’ Bullion Gateway technology enables the same advancement for precious metals. Messaging standards for gold are the agreed-upon formal principles, rules, and protocols, as codified by widely respected international bodies or broad consortiums, that govern the secure and efficient movement of data regarding quantity, ownership, location, form, delivery, quality, financial terms, and other essential aspects of buying and selling of bullion on world markets. The transition from traditional methods in financial markets to more accurate and rapid systems is inevitable,” it said.

Gold Frontiers argues that innovations mean that bullion banks will increasingly specialise in their role in financing and providing liquidity to miners and refiners and industrial buyers of precious metals, while assuming a diminished part in the forward distribution of physical metal to investors.