MKS (Switzerland) SA is a trader of precious metals. Based in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, the group employs approximately 600 workers and turns over an estimated US$70 million. MKS is an associate of the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), and its subsidiary PAMP has been on the LBMA’s Gold List, widely recognised in the financial services industry as the indicator of quality, since 1987.

Areas of activity

As a trading house the company's clients include organisations in the financial services industry, such as banks and fund managers, commodities processors such as gold miners and

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

manufacturers. MKS subsidiary PAMP SA (Produits Artistiques Metaux Precieux), based in Castel San Pietro in the Swiss canton of

Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

, is a refinery processing

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

and

palladium Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself na ...

. The refinery produces bars,

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

s and medallions from the precious metals it refines as well as providing semi-finished products to jewellers and watch manufacturers. It counts Harrods among its retail partners, which offers PAMP's minted products to its customers at its bank in its

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

flagship store.

History

The company was founded in Switzerland in 1979 by Mahmoud Kassem Shakarchi, hence the name MKS. His son and daughter jointly took over the running of the company in 1983, since when the company has expanded to have staff located in 15 offices in 12 countries around the world. MKS bought PAMP SA in 1981, and began to supply gold bars to jewellers, high street banks, investments banks and central banks.

PAMP

PAMP SA (Produits Artistiques Métaux Précieux) is a world leading, independently operated, precious metals refining and fabricating company, member of the MKS Group. It was established in 1977 in

, Switzerland. It provides vertically integrated services in precious metals, from collection of doré from the mine, through to assaying, hedging and delivery of its bars and other products throughout the world. The company produces a complete selection of bullion bars, from 12.5 kilograms to 1 gram and leads the world market for gold bars of 50 grams or less. PAMP also operates in India through MMTC-PAMP, a joint venture between the company and MMTC Ltd.

MKS in the media

MKS is often quoted as a gold trading expert in the media. Financial media such as

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...

, ''

Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'', ''

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, Ni ...

'',

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

and the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

''"Gold May Decline in New York as Stronger Dollar Cuts Demand"
''San Francisco Chronicle'', 20 June 2011 have quoted them.

References

External links

Bullion Market Association, full members' list
* ttp://pamp.goldavenue.com/Brand.aspx?CALL=363934/ PAMP Shop, ''Goldavenue'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Mks Finance Financial services companies of Switzerland