LBMA published its July 2026 net clearing averages on 1 September 2026. Gold transferred averaged 15.8mn ounces a day, 5.4% below June, settled across 6,169 transfers, 14.6% fewer than the month before. The average transfer was 2,566 ounces, 10.9% larger. The series covers net transfers of Loco London metal between the four market-maker banks that own and operate London Precious Metals Clearing Limited.
Loco London clearing settles positions, not bars. A transfer inside this figure is a book entry between clearing banks against unallocated positions: the metal stays where it is, the vault register does not change, and no serial number moves. An allocated holding sits outside that mechanism entirely. Where a counterparty holds refinery-origin bars from Heraeus or Argor-Heraeus, allocated by serial into a dedicated client sub-account at Brink’s Hong Kong or Brink’s Singapore and named to that counterparty in the vault register, the bars are segregated from Golden Ark Reserve’s own stock and from other participants, are not used and not pledged, and never enter a London clearing total. That holding moves by re-registration in the vault register and, where the counterparty instructs physical movement, by authorised carrier under a release instruction. The July figures also fix the unit London settles in: 2,566 ounces averages about 80 kg, or roughly six Good Delivery bars, per ticket. The allocation unit is one bar, carried on the Allocation Record with its serial number, weight, fineness and refiner mark. A counterparty evidences title from that record and from the placement confirmation, not from a clearing statistic — the two describe different layers, and only one of them names the holder against numbered metal.
A clearing average measures settlement between banks over one month. It measures nothing about the bars held in any vault, nothing about what a counterparty can source or place, and nothing about price.
Allocation, segregation and vault placement mechanics are set out on Allocated Gold Storage.