ScotiaMocatta, originally founded as Mocatta Bullion in 1684, was a

precious metal Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Chemically, the precious metals tend to be less reactive than most elements (see noble metal). They are usually ductile and have a high lustre. ...

and

base metal A base metal is a common and inexpensive metal, as opposed to a precious metal such as gold or silver. In numismatics, coins often derived their value from the precious metal content; however, base metals have also been used in coins in the past ...

trading company that operated as the metals trading division of the

Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

(Scotiabank) from 1997 until January 2019.

Business

ScotiaMocatta was one of the ten market-making members of the

London Bullion Market Association The London Bullion Market Association (now known simply as LBMA), established in 1987, is the international trade association representing the global Over The Counter (OTC) bullion market, and defines itself as "the global authority on precious ...

. They were participants in the London

gold fixing The London Gold Fixing (or Gold Fix) is the setting of the price of gold that takes place via a dedicated conference line. It was formerly held on the New Court, London premises of N M Rothschild & Sons, Nathan Mayer Rothschild & Sons by the member ...

. Their organization had a history of 340 years, and was the only original member of the London Gold and Silver fixes to maintain seats in both associations. After the dissolution of ScotiaMocatta, Scotiabank holds those memberships.

History

ScotiaMocatta was formed by Scotiabank's acquisition of Mocatta Bullion from

Standard Chartered Bank Standard Chartered plc is a multinational bank with operations in consumer, corporate and institutional banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retail banking in the UK, and around ...

in 1997. They acquired it from

Hambros Bank Hambros Bank was a British bank based in London. The Hambros bank was a specialist in Anglo-Scandinavian business with expertise in trade finance and investment banking, and was the sole banker to the Scandinavian kingdoms for many years. The Bank ...

in 1973. The company dates back to Moses Mocatta, who immigrated from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

where, in 1671, he established a shop for gold, silver, and diamonds, then opened an account with the English goldsmith-banker

Edward Backwell Edward Backwell (ca. 1618–1683) was an English goldsmith-banker, and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1673 and 1683. He has been called "the principal founder of the banking system in England", and "far and ...

(ca. 1618–1683). Moses Mocatta sent silver to India in 1676, because silver was cheaper in London than in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

. 1684, the

bullion Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes from t ...

dealer and refiner ″Mocatta″ was developed to serve as a broker to the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

and the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

in the 18th and 19th centuries. The business was re-named ″Mocatta & Goldsmid″ in 1799 after Asher Goldsmid was admitted as partner in 1787. The firm was solely controlled by the

Mocatta Mocatta (also ''de Mattos Mocatta'', ''Lumbroso de Mattos Mocatta'' and ''Lumbrozo de Mattos Mocatta'') is a surname. The Mocatta family is a leading Anglo-Jewish family that traces its ancestry to the Sephardic Jewish communities of Spain and P ...

and Goldsmid families for 286 years before they merged with Hambros Bank in 1957. Subsequent to 1957, the firm was managed by Edward Mocatta, with involvement and shareholdings variously from Hambros Bank, Standard Chartered Bank,

Henry Jarecki Henry George Jarecki (born April 15, 1933) is a German-born American academic, psychiatrist, entrepreneur, .html" ;"title="/sup>">/sup> producer and philanthropist. Early life and career Henry Jarecki was born into a German-Jewish family in S ...

, Scotiabank, the Mocatta family, and vaguely defined 'others'. With

Peter Hambro Peter Charles Percival Hambro (born 18 January 1945) is one of the founders of Petropavlovsk plc, (formerly Peter Hambro Mining), a gold mining business in Russia. Early life Peter Hambro was born on 18 January 1945,Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, and became the largest gold and silver counter-party to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The Mocatta firm acts as

central bankers A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central ba ...

, notably the

and the

United States Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

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. Starting in 1986, the Luxemburg Monetary Institute issues gold coins through a Luxemburg subsidiary ''The Luxemburg Mint''. One of their shareholders is the Mocatta group. As of 2018, ScotiaMocatta maintained offices in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Closure

2018, the managing bankers controlled the activities of 160 employees in ten offices. On 18 October 2017, The ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' of London reported because ScotiaMocatta was an instrumental lender to Elemetal or their subsidiaries, one of whose gold refinery subsidiaries was corrupted by Peruvian narco-traffickers and thus laundered about US$3.6 billion dollars, the managing bankers attempted to sell the business through the intermediation of JPMorgan. The gold price-fixing scandal and lawsuits of 2016 were also deemed responsible for Scotiabank's review of ScotiaMocatta. Two of the managing bankers of ScotiaMocatta parted ways with Scotiabank in May 2018, after Scotiabank, with JPMorgan to facilitating the sale, failed to find a buyer. By June 2018, the parent reduced the money available to ScotiaMocatta for external loans, at the time numbered at US$8bn. The managing bankers terminated relationships with stand-alone clients. Another senior staff member left his employment in mid-May, while another six traders were given notice. In September 2018, the

Bank of Montreal The Bank of Montreal (BMO; french: Banque de Montréal, link=no) is a Canadian multinational investment bank and financial services company. The bank was founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1817 as Montreal Bank; while its head office remains in ...

hired six traders away from the failure. As a result of the January 2019 re-organization, Scotiabank stopped supplying gold to the Italian and Indian jewelry industries. Impetus for the change came from the departure of seven New York-based traders to a Canadian rival, Bank of Montreal. At the end of April 2020, the''

Financial Post The ''Financial Post'' was an English Canadian business newspaper, which published from 1907 to 1998. In 1998, the publication was folded into the new ''National Post'',"Black says Post to merge with new paper". ''The Globe and Mail'', July 23, ...

'' reported that Scotiabank bankers were planning to withdraw from their remaining metals trade, including the trade with precious metals, and to wind down their existing activities in this field until the beginning of 2021.„Scotiabank to close its metals business: sources“ in the Financial Post on 28. April 2020
/ref>

References

Sources

* * *{{cite book , title=Precious Heritage: 300 Years of Mocatta and Goldsmid , first=Timothy , last=Green , publisher=Rosendale Press , location=London , year=1984 , isbn=0950918202

External links

Article about the ″Mocatta family″
by

Joseph Jacobs Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian folklorist, translator, literary critic, social scientist, historian and writer of English literature who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore. Jacob ...

, Isidore Harris and

Goodman Lipkind Rabbi Goodman Lipkind (1878 – 1973) was a London rabbi who later emigrated to New York City. He wrote several articles for the ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' in 1906. He is today mainly remembered for having been the factual base for the picture of Josep ...

at www.jewishencyclopedia.com
Article about the °Mocatta family°
im

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...