Memorable moments

Last week’s London Bullion Market Association (“LBMA”) training courses got rave reviews despite a few hiccups along the way.  A brief internet outage dumped the trainer out, and the builder next door starting to cut through concrete slabs drowning out all conversation.

The attendees were superb throughout.  While the trainer was getting reorganised, one shared their personal experiences of being part of the gold fixing, the forerunner to the current LBMA price process.  And we all laughed at the willingness of the builder to stop work early on a Friday afternoon so that we could complete our leasing workshop.

“Great foundation with the right pace and content”

“The workshops helped understanding tremendously”

“The training was delivered professionally, with knowledge and with a human touch”

Top marks to the group on the “How to Use Loco London” course as they achieved the stretch target of completing a bonus case study by racing through the standard course materials in record time. It was a satisfying end to a great two days.

“An Introduction to Loco London” and “How to Use Loco London” are scheduled to run on 22nd and 23rd February 2022 respectively.  Follow this link to secure your place.

Full house

Last week the London Metal Exchange (“LME”) ran their new “Introduction to Cash-Settled Futures” course for the first time.  Places filled up quickly with an impressive geographical spread of attendees from Malaysia to New York.

The focus of this course is on the cash-settled futures contracts introduced by the LME in more recent years, where the final settlement price is determined by a Price Reporting Agency (“PRA”).  The three-hour session combines theory with several practical examples, and encourages questions and discussions of real life situations.

Feedback has been great with most rating the course excellent, noting that their knowledge had greatly improved and expecting to readily apply the new knowledge in their day-to-day roles.

“It was fun and interactive session”

“My understanding on the LME and futures has been significantly improved”

Don’t just take their word for it.  Why not join the next session on 9th February 2022?

 

Something beginning with “S”

Last week’s London Metal Exchange (“LME”) / Euromoney Learning courses were well attended with great representation across the value chain.  The “S” theme came from the attendees being based in Sweden and South Africa, from smelters, scrap recyclers and specialist steels, and Stephanie being the willing volunteer in many of the examples.

“I’m very glad I did this training. It was well worth the money and for a virtual course, it was very well explained and very interactive.”

“There were enough examples and recaps to really understand what was going on … and lots of room to ask questions.”

“I recommend it to all those who want to start trading and hedging.”

Check out Upcoming Courses for links to register for the final session in 2021 (7-9 December, EDT) or the brand-new half-day course on cash-settled futures (30 November, GMT).  2022 dates are being finalised and will be posted shortly.

 

Split session

This month’s London Bullion Market Association (“LBMA”) “An Introduction to loco London”  training course trialled a new format.  Instead of delivering the course in a single day, there were two sessions on consecutive London afternoons.  The idea was to make the course more accessible to those “across the pond”, but interestingly this sold-out course had more attendees from Asia than the US and Canada.  Which format suits you better – all on one day or split over two? 

“It has been a great opportunity for me to understand the bullion market in a short time” 

“The presenter was able to explain theoretical points and match them with practical examples.” 

This course and the follow-on module, “How to Use Loco London”, return to the single day format on 2 & 3 December respectively. Check out Upcoming Courses for links to more details.

 

Simply the best

Today’s London Metal Exchange (“LME”) / Euromoney Learning  webinar took a look at forward prices and the forward curve and was very well received.

“Best-ever explanation of contango and backwardation!”

“The best and most accessible explanation of forward curves I have ever found.” 

It helps enormously to hear that we are hitting the mark with content and delivery.  If you missed it, links to all the webinars in this series are here.

The next session on 14th December will examine the cash-settled futures which use prices published by price reporting agencies (PRAs). The differences between spot PRA prices, LME forward and settlement prices will be explained.

 

 

 

More than you bargain for

Attendees on this week’s London Metal Exchange  / Euromoney Learning introductory courses definitely got more than they bargained for.

An integral part of these courses are the side discussions that develop from questions raised by attendees.  This week there was a tremendous willingness to share real-life experiences.  When a consumer, new to hedging, was querying how to manage their US Midwest aluminium premium exposure, a physical trader shared their practical approach to premium risk in Europe.  On the options day, discussions included applying options to manage escalation clauses in concentrate agreements.  These bonus topics always make the few days more enriching and enjoyable.

I was able to understand more about what our clients do in terms of hedging and LME contracts.

The trainer was patient and explained the concepts precisely.

It was a pleasure to learn from someone who has lots of experience and knowledge about how LME works practically and theoretically.

Courses are scheduled to coincide with the business day in Europe, the US, Asia and the Middle East.  Check out Upcoming Courses to find a date and time zone that works for you.

Back to basics

This week’s London Metal Exchange (“LME”) / Euromoney Learning  webinar refreshed the very first webinar in this series.  The original webinar enjoyed strong registrations, and has easily been the most popular over the last two years.  There is clearly appetite for more as there was a record number of registrations, download figures are ticking up already and questions poured into the final Q&A.

The next session on 14th September will take a look at the forward curve, and will explore why contango and backwardation arise.  You can register for this webinar and find all previous webinars here.

 

Tokyo to Texas

This month’s London Bullion Market Association (“LBMA”) loco London training courses attracted participants from all over the world, from Tokyo to Texas, including Liverpool and Lugano.

The two modules, “An Introduction to loco London”  and “How to use Loco London”,  are designed as stand-alone courses and can be attended separately.  Several attendees opted for a deep dive and took the two courses on consecutive days.  Others preferred to split the courses over a few months, either due to busy schedules or a natural preference for consolidating new knowledge before moving onto the next level.  Those who have a basic knowledge of the market can jump straight into the “How to use” session.

The combination of a core group that attended both days plus the influx of new faces on the second day, made for lively Q&A sessions and interesting shared insights during the group workshops.

“Fantastic course, very informative, enjoyable and really interesting insight to the bullion market. I really got a lot out of it.”

“Competent speaker, good atmosphere, Nice mixed group from a lot of branches of the industry”

The next Introduction to Loco London course will be split over two London afternoons (15-16 September) to accommodate both European and US based attendees. Further course dates are being firmed up and will be confirmed shortly. Keep an eye on Upcoming Courses for dates and links to register.

 

The breeze in Belize

WFH or TFH, Training From Home, was taken to a whole new level during last week’s London Metal Exchange  / Euromoney Learning introductory courses.  The courses were run in the New York time zone to cater to the Americas and one attendee was on holiday in Belize.  We were envious when we realised that the palm trees outside were not a virtual background.  Be it a holiday home, or makeshift home office, physical location is much less of an impediment to developing professional skills and networking across the industry than we might have feared at the start of the pandemic.

“Very good, very happy with my learnings, I highly recommend!”

“It definitely broadened my understanding of key LME market concepts and gave me the necessary knowledge to start experimenting in these markets.”

“The trainer managed to explain complex concepts in a simple way while maintaining everyone engaged”

Courses are scheduled to coincide with the business day in Europe, the US, Asia and the Middle East.  Check out Upcoming Courses to find a date and time zone that works for you.