Board and Sub Committees

MCBIH’s Board was restructured in 2016 to bring independence and strengthen decision making capability, including the appointment of two independent non-executive directors.

The Board meets on a quarterly basis to discuss matters of strategic importance and extensive changes have been made to improve governance. The restructure promotes and evidences MCBIH's core values of leadership, trust and integrity.

Board

• Dr Paul Fisher, MCBIH Chairman
  

  After a 10 year academic career, Dr Paul Fisher was a senior figure at the Bank of England for 26 years, retiring at the end of July 2016. He was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee, the interim Financial Policy Committee and the PRA Board. During the Great Financial Crisis he worked in the Markets Area of the Bank, from March 2009 as Executive Director responsible, amongst other things, for the Bank’s programme of asset purchases for quantitative easing. In June 2014 he was appointed Deputy Head of the Prudential Regulation Authority. Previously, from 2002, he ran the Bank’s Foreign Exchange Division where he had a constructive relationship with the MCBIH and developed a working knowledge of the bullion market.

  Since leaving the Bank he has been working on Climate Change and Sustainability in the financial sector, including afor the EC. He has also been writing on matters of financial stability, policy co-ordination and governance, competition policy, supervision and regulation.

  Among a range of outside positions he is a Non-Executive Director at the UK Debt Management Office; Senior Associate at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership; Senior Research Fellow at the DAFM centre, King’s College Business School; and he is a Visiting Professor in Economics and Finance at Richmond University, the American International University in London.

• Mehdi Barkhordar, Vice Chairman at MKS PAMP Group and MCBIH Vice Chairman
  

  Mehdi Barkhordar graduated from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and Decision Sciences. In 1983, he joined the MKS PAMP Group, which includes MKS (Switzerland) S.A., a leading precious metals and financial services company, and PAMP S.A., one of the world’s foremost precious metals refiners and fabricators. From central offices in Switzerland, the MKS PAMP Group operates globally through an international network of branch offices with locations in 14-countries and covering all five continents.

  Active throughout the precious metals industry, he is widely respected for his comprehensive trading, marketing and fabrication expertise. He has been instrumental in significantly broadening the Group’s reach, range of services and productivity over the course of 30 years.

  Additionally, he has contributed greatly to widening perceptions of the value of precious metals worldwide through innovative product and marketing concepts. And, throughout his career, he has been one of the industry’s most visible proponents of products and services quality standards, best practices and ethics, as well as environmental sustainability.

• Ruth Crowell, Chief Executive
  

  Prior to joining the MCBIH, Ruth worked in bank finance and US corporate law at the law firms of White & Case and Norton Rose, and also acted as a monitor at the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.

  She has an MSc in History of International Relations from the London School of Economics and a degree in English Literature from Kenyon College in Ohio.

  She is responsible for the strategic commercial development of the Association, including Regulatory Affairs, Intellectual Property, Communications, and Events.

  She acts as the MCBIH's main contact for regulatory affairs and is responsible for the Association's work on supply chain due diligence, especially with regard to the Responsible Gold Guidance. She also represents the Association at industry, governmental and multi-stakeholder regulatory forums. Most recently she served as the co-facilitator of the OECD Interim Governance Group as well as the co-facilitator of the Gold Supplement Drafting Committee.

• Sakhila Mirza, Executive Board Director & General Counsel
  

  In her role as General Counsel of the London Bullion Market Association and also an Executive member of the MCBIH Board, Sakhila has been involved in, and taken the lead on a number of projects of the Association. This has included, but not limited to: working closely with the CEO on the strategic direction of the MCBIH; transitioning all of the four precious metals benchmarks onto electronic platforms by working with the service providers as well as regulators; leading the draft and launch of the Precious Metals Code; working with external service provider to enhance transparency in the precious metals market by launching the MCBIH trade reporting initiative; and providing for lobbying efforts on behalf of members on a number of issues, for example EU Conflicts Minerals regulation, Net Stable Funding Ratio amongst other regulations.

  In addition to this, Sakhila takes responsibility for all the legal and regulatory work of the Association and that of London Precious Metals Clearing Limited (LPMCL). She is involved in setting policies and leading the incident management process within the MCBIH by working with various external stakeholders to help with decision making. She has also focused on meeting and building relationships with governmental officials and regulators and continues to educate all such stakeholders on the dynamics of the bullion market and all the work undertaken by the MCBIH.

  Sakhila brings with her a wealth of experience having previously worked in the energy and commodities industry where she dealt with compliance, legal and regulatory matters. Sakhila read law at the London School of Economics and went onto qualify as a solicitor.

• Davide Collini, Head of EMEA Metals and Agricultural Sales, BNP Paribas
  
  

  Davide has been working in the bullion market since 2002, when he started at JPMorgan in Metals Sales covering producers, central banks and private banks in EMEA. He moved to Merrill Lynch in 2008 where he continued in Metal Sales until 2011.

  In addition to precious metals he also worked in base metals and commodities investor products. His primary area of expertise is in metal derivatives. He is now responsible for bullion transactions with official institutions globally at BNP Paribas where he is Head of EMEA Metals and Agricultural Sales executing precious and base metal transactions with corporates and financial institutions. Davide has also been a member of the MCBIH membership committee since 2010 and graduated with a degree in Industrial Economics from the University of Warwick.

• Fang Wenjian, CEO, Bank of China (UK) Limited
  

  Wenjian joined Bank of China Head Office in 1996. Wenjian was the Deputy General Manager and the Chief Credit Officer of Bank of China London Branch, and also the Chief Risk Officer of Bank of China (UK) Limited from December 2004.

  Wenjian has served as a Director and the Chief Executive Officer of Bank of China (UK) Limited since November 2018.

  Wenjian was educated at Beijing Foreign Studies University in China to postgraduate level, and received his MBA with Distinction from University of Hertfordshire in 1996. He has been a CFA Charter Holder since 2008.

• Hitoshi Kosai, Chief, International Planning Office & Head of President’s Strategy at Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K. & TANAKA HOLDINGS Co., Ltd
  

  A graduate of Shizuoka University, majoring in Inorganic Chemistry, Hitoshi’s main roles since 2000 has been providing advice to the Management at Tanaka Holdings on international precious metals issues and representing Tanaka on a number of international precious metal organisations such as MCBIH, LPPM, WGC, IPA, IPMI, PMC, OECD, etc. This has involved extensive travel throughout Europe and North America.

  Hitoshi has participated in almost all meetings of the MCBIH and LPPM Referees Groups in person and with one exception (Mumbai) has attended every MCBIH conference.

  Hitoshi has participated in almost all meetings of the MCBIH and LPPM Referees Groups in person and with one exception (Mumbai) has attended every MCBIH conference.

  In 2002, Hitoshi arranged for Tanaka to provide the MCBIH (and the other new members of the referees group) with the technique for producing gold reference samples. Also as a member of the MCBIH Referees Group, he has contributed to the technical development of the GD System including the introduction of Proactive Monitoring in 2004 and the introduction of Responsible Gold Guidance.

  Since its establishment in 2008, Hitoshi has been a member of the MCBIH’s Reference Material Steering Committee. Tanaka produced the MCBIH’s first gold Certified Reference Materials in 2009 and late last year was awarded the contract to produce the next set of silver Certified Reference Materials.

  Since 2010, Hitoshi has provided advice on the MCBIH’s gold assaying Proficiency Testing Scheme which is now carried out annually and since 2004, has acted as advisor for the MCBIH’s Assaying and Refining Conference.

  Tanaka has been very active not only in the Asian market places but also in both Europe and North America. Hitoshi was for several years a member of the Board of Tanaka’s Korean JV, d Heesung Metals Ltd. The MCBIH’s engagement with the Asian market is a vital part of its strategy in coming years and Hitoshi hopes that his membership of the MCBIH Board will allow him to contribute to the maintenance and growth of the MCBIH’s position in Asia.

  Concerning the European market, Tanaka’s involvement is reflected in Hitoshi’s attendance during the past decade at almost every meeting on REACH organised by the PMC(Precious Metals Consortium where Tanaka has been the only non-European refiner full member.) In addition, to help it focus on European issues, Tanaka established a representative office in London in 2013 under Hitoshi’s leadership as Tanaka’s permanent representative. As for Gold usage for technical applications Hitoshi has been a member of International Advisory Board of the Conferences organised by major market players, academic organizations, industrial enterprises and industry organizations such as WGC.

• Raj Kumar, Managing Director, ICBC Standard Bank Plc
  

  Raj joined ICBC Standard Bank Plc as a Managing Director in September 2015. ICBC Standard Bank is a leading financial markets and commodities bank that benefits from its unique Chinese and African parentage. Raj Heads up the Precious Metals Strategic Business Development, Clearing and Vaulting as well as eCommerce. Raj is also a Director of London Precious Metals Clearing Limited (LPMCL).

  Prior to joining ICBCS Raj held senior positions over 11 years at Deutsche Bank including the Global Head of Clearing and Vaulting, Head of Precious Sales and Physical Trading. Raj also represented DB on the MCBIH Physical Committee and was a Director of the LPMCL. Prior to DB Raj worked at Goldman Sachs for 11 years supporting the Metals and Commodities business in various roles.

• Andrew Quinn, Non-Executive Director
  

  Andrew Quinn currently serves as a non-Executive Director of Barrick Gold Corp. and is a member of its Audit and Risk Committee. Before joining the board of Barrick, after its merger with Randgold Resources, Andy had served as the Senior Independent Director of Randgold and had been a non-Executive Director since 2011.

  A plus 40 year veteran of the mining industry, Andy graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Mineral Exploitation (mining engineering) from Cardiff University. He began his career in Anglo American's gold division in in South Africa in 1975, holding various management and technical positions. He worked briefly for Greenbushes Tin in Australia before joining the Mining Journal in 1982 as editor of its gold publications. In 1984 he joined James Capel (later HSBC Investment Banking), ultimately heading its mining corporate finance activities for six years from late 1989, before joining the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) in 1996.

  Andy retired at the end of 2011 from his position as CIBC's head of mining investment banking for Europe and Africa after 15 years in the role. He is a member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. He joined the Board of the MCBIH as a non Executive Director in 2016 and he chairs the HR Committee and serves on the Finance Committee.

• Isabelle Strauss-Kahn, Non-Executive Director
  

  Isabelle Strauss-Kahn is an international consultant in Financial Asset Management as well as being an Advisory Board member of the World Gold Council and the Treasurer/ Board member of the Paris Institute of Advanced Studies. She also provides advisory services for public asset management covering a range of issues including governance, strategic asset allocation, portfolio management and operational procedures.

  From 1999 to 2008, she was Deputy and then Director (2003) of Market Operations at the BDF, overseeing monetary policy implementation and reserve management of foreign exchange and gold. From 2008 to 2018, she was Lead Financial Officer in the Treasury division of the World Bank, providing financial services, technical assistance and training to many central banks and global sovereign wealth funds.

  Prior to this, she held managerial positions in supervising risks successively at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and at the BDF. She was a member of several international European Committees including the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. She has spoken at numerous conferences organised by public and private financial institutions and has published several articles on reserve management. She graduated in Economics (PhD Core) at the University of Chicago (USA), in Business at HEC (Haut Enseignement Commercial, Paris) and in Law (Paris-I).

Observer: Andrew Grice, Bank of England

Sub-Committees

• Finance Committee

  The Finance Committee is responsible for monitoring the MCBIH's finances, preparing the annual budget in the autumn and examining the draft accounts around March each year.

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  Chair: Brian Pereira, Finance Director, Brink's Limited

  Brian Pereira joined Brink's Limited in April 2008 and more recently became the Chair of the Finance Committee, having been on the Committee since 2012.

  Members of the FC:

  • Philip Aubertin, UBS Ltd
  • David Burns, Commerzbank AG
  • Simon Ward, Baird & Co
  • Mark Amlin, JP Morgan
  • Andrew Quinn, Non-Executive Director
• Physical Committee

  The Physical Committee is responsible for monitoring, developing and protecting the Good Delivery List.

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  Chair: Ian Warman, Head of Precious Metals Trade Management Unit, Standard Chartered Bank

  Ian began his Bullion career at JP Morgan in 1990 in Operations and held many roles in across a wide range of physical Commodities. He was very active in the Aurum development for Unallocated Clearing and acted as project manager for the LPMCL and JP Morgan in defining, developing and the testing of Aurum.

  He joined Credit Agricole in 2007 to develop their Middle Office and Operations capability across Base metals, Energy and Bullion, and later building the capabilities to support European physical Gas and Power.

  In 2013, Ian joined Standard Chartered Bank Commodities team as Head of Commodities Operations for Europe. Ian current role is Head Precious Metal Transaction management unit, and his team, who are based in Singapore and London are responsible for the management of the global inventory of all Standard Chartered entities. SCB have a significant Bullion derivative and physical global business with a strong physical capability in India, China and the Middle East.
  

  Other members of the PC:

  • Vikas Chamaria, TD Securities
  • Robert Davis, Scotia Bank
  • Tony Dean, HSBC Bank plc
  • Andrew Lovell, JP Morgan
  • Michel Mathieu, UBS AG
  • Paul McKerrell, ICBC Standard Bank Plc
  • Observer: Michelle Stuart, Bank of England
• Public Affairs Committee

  The Public Affairs Committee is primarily responsible for organising events, most notably the MCBIH Conference as well marketing material and publications of the Association.

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  Chair: Tom Kendall, Head of Metals Strategy, ICBC Standard Bank

  Tom Kendall’s experience in precious metals spans more than 20 years and embraces both physical and financial markets.Tom is currently Head of Precious Metals Sales for ICBC Standard Bank Plc with responsibility for managing sales teams in London and New York, and oversight of the bank’s commodities strategy. He joined ICBC Standard Bank in June 2015 as Head of Precious Metals Strategy, a role that involved market analysis, commodity structured finance and business development.

  Tom joined ICBC Standard Bank from LCM Metals UK LLP, an independent options brokerage, where he held the role of Head of Metals Strategy. Prior to that, he spent almost five years at Credit Suisse, latterly as Head of Global Commodities Research leading a team of commodity market analysts in London, New York and Singapore. At Credit Suisse, he worked with multinational corporate clients, institutional investors, hedge funds, and central banks and sovereign wealth funds.

  His previous roles include three years as Precious Metals Strategist for Mitsubishi Corporation and five years as Head of Market Research for Johnson Matthey PLC, one of the world’s leading platinum group metals refiners and fabricators.

  Tom holds a BSc in Geology from Southampton University.

  Other members of the PAC:

  • Jonathan Butler, Mitsubishi Corporation International (Europe) Plc
  • Suki Cooper, Standard Chartered
  • Leon Edery, BNP Paribas
  • Nikos Kavalis, Metals Focus
  • Stephen Pender, BASF
  • Rupen Raithatha, Johnson Matthey
  • Bernard Sin, MKS (Switzerland) SA
  • Adrian Ash, BullionVault
  • David Jollie, Anglo American
• Membership Committee

  The Membership Committee is responsible for ensuring that the quality Association's Membership is maintained, as well as to encourage all suitably qualified companies involved in the bullion business to join the Association as Market Makers, Members or Associates.

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  Chair: Nicholas Frappell, General Manager, ABC Bullion

  Nick is Global General Manager of ABC Bullion in Sydney, the international facing role the business. Nick started his career in Precious Metals with Bank of Boston, then trading for Sumitomo Corporation Tokyo, arbitraging TOCOM gold futures and dealing with overseas bank and Central banks, then SC Europe, where he ran the precious metals swap books and Islamic finance book.

  He moved to become manager of RBS Sempra Commodities Precious Metals desk, then the head of the Triland Futures precious desk. He then moved to join Mitsui Precious Metals Inc. in London before joining their team in Hong Kong to grow their Australasian business. Nick was formerly a member of the MCBIH’s Management Committee, the Finance committee and has been involved in the Membership Committee for a number of years. He has a bachelor’s degree in Economics with Psychology from City, University of London, a Diploma in Statistics from the Open University, UK, and is in the process of completing a Master’s in Finance with Economic Policy from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He has worked in London, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sydney.

  Members of the MeC:

  • Allan Finn, Malca Amit
  • Aleksander Ganchev, Standard Chartered Bank
  • Richard Hayes, Perth Mint
  • Sunil Kashyap, Bank of Nova Scotia - ScotiaMocatta
  • Rory McVeigh, Sumitomo Corporation
• Regulatory Affairs Committee

  The Regulatory Affairs Committee monitors and disseminates information concerning international regulation affecting the bullion market. The RAC also suggests and outlines possible actions that the Association may take in response to proposed or upcoming regulation.

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  Chair: Tobias Wilson, Senior Manager, Commodities and Financial Benchmarks, Markets Regulatory Compliance, HSBC Bank PLC

  In his current role, Tobias provides compliance advisory coverage to the Commodities business at HSBC, which includes base metals, precious metals and energy asset classes sales and trading, as well as lending support in relation to the overarching Financial Benchmark regulation. A significant amount of his time is spent covering the precious metals business including the physical metals and custody business. He is also the global lead for commodities compliance, hence has significant involvement with both the US and Asia markets. Globally, HSBC has a comprehensive offering in precious metals and a long history of participation in the bullion market.

  Prior to joining HSBC, Tobias was commodities compliance coverage at Barclays and prior to that covered exchange traded derivatives and commodities at UBS for a number of years, three of which were spent in the UBS Singapore office. Preceding this, Tobias was at Morgan Stanley within the FICC compliance team. He also sits on two of the FIA Compliance Committees (for metals and energy and emissions) where a broad range of global regulatory matters are discussed in line with evolution and changes in the commodities markets.

  Other members of the RAC:

  • Philip Ashton, TD Securities
  • Silvia Auger, UBS AG
  • Simon Jackson, HSBC Bank plc
  • Russel Kay, Standard Chartered Bank
  • Nimisha Kanabar, Morgan Stanley
  • Peter Kilchenmann, Credit Suisse AG
  • Dario Lyons, Citibank NA
  • Sarah Masterson, HSBC
  • Declan McKeever, JP Morgan Chase Bank
  • Tom Prothero, Goldman Sachs International
  • Molly Richards, Bank of Nova Scotia - ScotiaMocatta
  • Yana Richardson, ICBC Standard Bank Plc
• Refiners' Committee

  The Refiners' Committee discuss issues facing the market, exchange ideas and promote dialogue with MCBIH.

  Members of the REC:

  • Phaedon Stamatopoulos, Argor-Heraeus SA
  • Paul Healey, Asahi Refining Canada Limited
  • Chen Jie, Great Wall Precious Metals Co.
  • Hans Ritter, Heraeus Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG
  • Sergei Belov , Krastsvetmet JSC
  • Antoine de Montmollin, Metalor Technologies SA
  • Mehdi Barkhordar, PAMP SA
  • Richard Hayes, Perth Mint Refinery
  • Praveen Baijnath, Rand Refinery Pty
  • Rob Sargent, Royal Canadian Mint
  • Hitoshi Kosai, Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K.
  • Philippe Van Maele, Umicore SA
  • Michael Mesaric, Valcambi SA
• Other Groups
  • Financial Crime Working Group
  • Gold Bar Integrity RfP Working Group
  • LPMCL
  • Referees
  • User Group for New Financial Services
  • Vault Managers Working Group
  • VAT Working Group