ScotiaMocatta
Scotia-Mocatta is the global bullion banking division of The Bank of Nova Scotia.
Business
Scotia-Mocatta is one of the ten market-making members of the London Bullion Market Association. Additionally it is one of 5 banks to participate in the London gold fixing. It has a history of 340 years, and is the only original member of the London Gold and Silver Fixes to maintain its seats on both respectively.
History
Scotia-Mocatta was formed by Scotiabank's acquisition of Mocatta Bullion from Standard Chartered Bank in 1997, which had in turn acquired it from Hambros Bank in 1973.
The company dates to Moses Mocatta's founding of a London bullion bank in 1671. Mocatta first sent silver to India in 1676, and the firm served as a broker to the Bank of England and the East India Company in the 18th and 19th centuries. The firm was renamed Mocatta & Goldsmid with the addition of Asher Goldsmid in 1783.
The firm was solely controlled by the Mocatta and Goldsmid families for 286 years before it merged with Hambros Bank in 1957. Subsequent to 1957, the firm was managed by Edward Mocatta and Sir David Cohen, with involvement and shareholdings variously from Hambros Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Henry Jarecki, Standard Chartered Bank, Scotiabank, the Mocatta family and others. With Peter Hambro as Deputy Managing Director and Henry Jarecki as Chairman, the firm pioneered options and futures trading in precious metals and pursued leading bullion deals in Russia, the United States, South America, Switzerland, Mexico, Germany, China, Hungary, Australia, Japan and South Africa, and became the largest gold and silver counter party to the Soviet Union.
The Mocatta firm has historically acted for central banks, notably the Bank of England and the United States Treasury in market stabilisations, notably the 1913 run on the Indian Specie Bank, and the 1980 attempt by the Hunt brothers to corner the silver market.
Offices
Scotia-Mocatta has offices in London, Hong Kong, India and New York (at One Liberty Plaza).
See also
- Scotiabank
- Mocatta
- Goldsmid family
- Gold fixing
- London Bullion Market Association
- Gold as an investment
Sources
- Jason Niss (17 October 2004). "Peter Hambro: He's never been to Harrow, he can carve a ham and he's struck gold in Russia". The Independent.
- "Scotia-Mocatta". goldavenue.com.
Precious Heritage: 300 Years of Mocatta and Goldsmid. Timothy Green. Rosendale Press, London, 1984.