London 29/04/2016 - SoctiaMocatta, the precious metals trading division of Scotia Bank, is closing its trading desk in Dubai, sources have told FastMarkets.
Traders in the Dubai office, a key hub for the Middle-Eastern bullion trade, will move to the Mumbai representative office, with the London office set to take over its book, FastMarkets understands.
"Our office in Dubai was a small office, primarily a ScotiaMocatta office, and was closed as part of a recent review process," a Scotia representative told FastMarkets. "As we grow and evolve our business, we will be focused on serving targeted customers in core sectors and markets in a way that complements [our] global banking and markets. global capabilities."
The Bank of Nova Scotia, through subsidiary ScotiaMocatta, is one of the world’s largest physical traders of gold bullion and is one of 12 members that set the twice-daily LBMA gold benchmark, which is used all round the world by central banks, miners, refiners, jewellers and the surrounding financial industry to settle gold-based contracts.
The small branch offices in Thailand and Taiwan that are not specifically ScotiaMocatta offices have also been shuttered, the representative added.
(Additional reporting by Vicky Chen, editing by Mark Shaw)