St. Petersburg exchange to launch trading of gold bars

MOSCOW. June 20 (Interfax) - The St. Petersburg Exchange signed a cooperation agreement with state mint Goznak at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on Thursday as it prepares to start trading precious metals.

The exchange and Goznak said in a joint press release that they agreed to join forces to organize trading of physical gold in the form of standard and weighted bullion on the platform of the St. Petersburg Exchange.

Goznak, which began providing custodial services for precious metals in 2024, will act as the custodian, providing its infrastructure for storing gold and conducting the necessary transactions for exchange trades.

"We and our colleagues from Goznak plan to create a risk-free trading space for counterparties, where they will be able to safely sell and buy weighted and standard precious metal bars, the depository for which will be Goznak," St. Petersburg Exchange president Igor Artemyev said in the press release.

"I am confident that cooperation between the St. Petersburg Exchange and Goznak will give new momentum to the development of exchange trading of precious metals and increase the volume of trading with them, and in future increase the investment appeal of the whole precious metals market for both legal entities and for retail investors," Artemyev said.

"I am certain that our partnership will in future lead to qualitative changes on the gold market, increase its liquidity, accessibility and pricing transparency," Goznak head Arkady Trachuk said.